From the Start
by aly.co
Summary: AU. Emily and Naomi are best friends growing up. When Naomi moves away, the two drift apart. 16 years later, when Naomi moves back to Bristol, their paths cross again.   Includes all other gen 2 characters in one way or another.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: I don't own skins.

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**Prologue:**

**...**

The two young girls walked home from school together, just as they did every other day. Only this day was different. This was the last day they would ever walk home together.

"Do you _have_ to go?" the shorter girl said to the taller one.

"_Yes_, Emily, I told you. Mum says we need a change. And she's been so sad since Dad left and I just want her to be happy again."

"So why can't you just move to a new house? Why do you have to move all the way across the country?"

"Mum says it needs to be a big change. And my uncle lives in Manchester so we are going to stay with him for a little while."

"Will you come back and visit?"

"Hopefully. If Mum lets me. Grandma lives here still so I'm sure we will come back all the time."

"I hope so. And when you do, you have to make sure you come over to play."

"I will."

"And you have to promise to write me at least one letter a week."

"I promise."

"And promise to be best friends forever?"

"Definitely."

"Good."

The two girls continued to walk side by side until they reached the yellow house.

"Do you want to come to my house and play for a while?" Emily asked, nodding her head to her own house next door.

"I can't. Mum said that I need to go straight home to finish packing."

"Okay. Can you play after dinner?"

"I'll have to ask Mum. But Mum said that you and Katie can both come over to play for a little while tomorrow morning before we leave."

"Okay. I'll come over in the morning then."

Emily wrapped her arms around the taller girls waist and squeezed her tight. "I'll miss you, Naomi."

Naomi wrapped her arms around Emily shoulders. "I'll miss you, too. But we'll still talk to each other and see each other. Best friends forever, right?"

"Right." Emily agreed and gave a little nod.

"Secret handshake?" Naomi asked, holding out her hand.

A grin spread across Emily's face and she took Naomi's hand and performed the handshake they did every time they said goodbye to each other.

**.**

**.**

A blonde woman poked her head in the door of Naomi's empty bedroom. "Come on, Naomi, the car's all packed. It's time to leave."

Naomi, Emily and Katie all stood up from where they had been having a make-believe tea party on the bedroom floor. They exited the house and stood in the driveway, where Gina Campbell's car was filled to the brim with boxes. Emily's Mum and Dad were also there, their four year old brother James holding tightly to his Mother's hand.

Gina hugged both Jenna and Rob, thanking them for their help with the packing.

"Naomi, say goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Fitch." Gina told her daughter.

Naomi walked up to the people that were like a second set of parents to her. "Bye Mrs. Fitch"

Jenna squatted down and pulled Naomi in to a tight hug. Being friends with Gina for the past 10 years, and Emily, Katie and Naomi playing together almost every single day had caused her to view the girl as a third daughter.

"Goodbye Naomi. I hope you like Manchester. You can come and stay with us whenever you like."

Naomi gave little James a hug and then moved on to Rob Fitch. She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her head against his stomach. Ever since her dad had left a few months ago, Rob had treated Naomi like his own daughter. And Naomi began to view him as her Father. He was always more of a father to her than her real Dad was anyway. Naomi and Katie shared a quick hug and Naomi prepared herself to say goodbye to the final member of the Fitch family.

Naomi stopped when she got to her best friend. Young Emily had tears in her eyes. Naomi was struggling not to cry herself. The girls embraced, did their handshake for the last time, and Naomi crawled in to the car and buckled her seatbelt. Gina backed out of the driveway and began to drive down the street. Naomi had her face pressed up against the window, watching her best friend in the whole world grow smaller and smaller, until they rounded the corner and she could no longer see her.

As soon as the car turned the corner, Emily burst in to tears. She ran straight to the open arms of her father, who held her tight, smoothing her brown hair, whispering in her ear that it would be okay.

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**So this is the new story I am working on. Chuck us a review if you like the sound of it and I'll continue with it :)**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello friends! Thanks for all the reviews. Glad to see people are interested. Here's the first chapter for you lovely readers. It's a bit long, but I wanted to get most of the setting up stuff out of the way fairly quickly. Hope you find it okay :)**

**First few chapters at least will be mainly focussed around Emily. I may keep it this way through the whole thing, or I may change to Naomi's side of things. I'll just decide when I get to it. If you have an opinion in this, let me know.**

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**Chapter 1.**

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**Darling heart, I loved you from the start, but you'll never know what a fool I've been. Darling heart, I've loved you from the start, but that's no excuse for the state I'm in.**

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"Haven't you gone over that enough times?" Emily asked, as she walked in to the office that she shared with her business partner and passed him one of the coffees she had just bought from the café across the road.

"I just don't want to stuff it up." The tall, handsome man answered, as he looked over the files spread out across his big desk for the hundredth time this week. "This is a big opportunity for us, and I don't want to mess it up."

Emily crossed the room and straightened the man's tie. "JJ, you know it all perfectly already. Beside, everyone loves you. Even if you did mess it up somehow you would still be able to fluke it. Those people eat up whatever you tell them."

"I know, I just get nervous. You remember what I was like in college. Always getting locked on and going off track."

"JJ, that hasn't happened since we started uni. You'll be fine. Just relax. You just tell them a little bit about the company, tell them our ideas and ask them if they would like to be involved. And if they say yes, then explain the contracts to them. Easy peasy. "

"Right. Yes, you're right."

JJ stood up, gathered his files and walked to the door. "Are you sure you'll be able to handle things here by yourself for a while?"

"Jay, I've handled things by myself every Monday and Wednesday morning for the last three years. I think I'll be fine."

"Right. Yes. Okay then. Have a good morning."

"You, too. Good luck." Emily called to him as he left.

Emily sat down at her desk and pressed the intercom button on the phone. "Panda, could you come in here for a moment, please?"

A second later, Emily's personal assistant, Pandora Moon, knocked lightly on the door and poked her head inside. "Is there some thing I can do for you, Emily?"

"Panda, you've been one of my best friends since we started college and you've worked for me for three years. You don't have to be so polite all the time. Come inside, make yourself comfortable."

Panda stepped inside and closed the door behind her. She took a seat opposite Emily. "So what's up?"

"I just wanted to go over my schedule for today."

"Oh yes. Well it's not too busy today." Panda said, pulling out the company diary. "You've got a meeting with Effy and Freddie this morning, and then you have a few hours free. And I imagine when JJ gets back, you'll want to discuss how that went…"

Emily nodded.

"And then that's it for today. But don't forget you invited JJ and Katie over for dinner tonight."

"Oh, shit! I completely forgot. I don't even have any food at home."

"Don't worry, I knew you would probably forget. I've already cleared some space in my schedule so I can go and do some grocery shopping for you. And I know where the spare key is kept, so I'll just drop it off at your place."

"Thanks Panda, you're a lifesaver. I don't know what I'd do without you."

"You're welcome. I have a whizzer time working for you so I'm happy to help out."

Emily smiled. Although it had been six years since the two had finished college, Panda had hardly changed a bit.

"Did you and Thomas want to come over for tea?" Emily asked, feeling slightly guilty for not inviting her in the first place.

"No thanks. Thommo has a big night planned for us. Taking me out somewhere for dinner and then surfin' and turfin' the rest of the night. It's gonna be brill!"

"Okay, thanks Panda. When Eff and Freddie get here, just send them in, okay?"

"Sure thing."

Emily spent the next few minutes going over some files. Three years ago, when she and JJ had graduated from university, they had decided to start this business together. It had started out as a small magazine, but had grown amazingly fast, until it was one of the biggest publishing companies in Bristol. The company now published a number of different magazines each month. After weeks of discussions (arguments) Emily and JJ had finally decided on naming their magazine _Millennial_. JJ had suggested it since the magazine was aimed at people belonging to the _millennial generation._ Now the company was the only thing that still bore that name. Each separate magazine now had different names.

Emily looked up from her desk when she heard a knock at the door. A beautiful brunette poked her head inside the office.

"Hey Ems. You ready for the meeting?" the brunette asked.

"Yeah, c'mon in, Eff, take a seat."

Effy walked in to the office and took a seat opposite Emily. She placed a folder on the desk between them.

"Freddie called, he said he will be a little bit late. Something about a burst water main and shitty traffic." Effy said.

"Thanks, that's no problem. How are things going with you two?" Emily asked.

"Great. It's really lovely." Effy answered unconvincingly.

"Lovely?"

"It's hard." Effy said, putting a cigarette between her lips and lighting it as she walked over to the open window.

"What's hard?"

"Love."

"Love is not supposed to be easy. That's why it's so rewarding." Emily said, lighting a cigarette for herself and joining Effy by the window.

"Sometimes it doesn't seem like it's all that rewarding." Effy said sadly.

Emily looked at her friend, knowing exactly what was going through her mind. Having Effy as one of her best friends for the past five years meant she had become pretty damn good at reading people.

"Don't give up on it, Eff. It may be hard, but Freddie loves you. And I know that you love him. It may be scary, but try to keep letting him in. It will get better."

"What if it doesn't? What if it happens again?" Effy asked quietly.

Emily pulled her friend in to a hug. "I won't let that happen again." She told her. "You're one of my best friends, Eff. I'll always be here. We won't let things go that far again."

Emily pulled away from Effy when she heard a knock at the door.

"Come in." She called.

A tall, thin, tanned man walked in to the office. His straight brown hair was scruffy, his shirt untucked from his trousers, his tie hanging loosely around his unbuttoned collar.

"Hey Freds." Emily said, as the man walked in and dumped a couple of folders down on the desk.

"Alright Emily?" He asked.

"Yeah, good thanks. You?"

"Yeah, good. Hey Eff." Freddie said, walking over to where Effy still stood by the window and kissing her on the cheek.

"Hey babe." Effy said, smiling up at him.

The three friends all took a seat around Emily's big desk.

"Okay, lets get down to business then. Freddie, how are things going in sports?"

"Great. Matherson has been working on a piece about the Bristol Rovers. He's got an interview lined up with that Danny Guillermo. Gonna try and find out if he really did sleep with the rest of the team's girlfriends. And Jeffries just sent me through a draft of his article on the English cricket team. I'll send a copy of it to you as soon as I get back to my office."

Three years ago, when Emily and JJ had started the magazine, they had only published one magazine each month that covered lifestyle, sports, fashion, celebrities and entertainment. Now they had a separate magazine for each. Effy was in charge of the lifestyle, fashion and celebrity gossip magazines, and Freddie ran the sports and entertainment magazines.

Freddie and Effy both had quite a few people working under them – writers, photographers, graphic designers. Emily's role was to oversee everything that Freddie and Effy did. The three met up a few times a week to discuss what was going in to the magazines, what _should_ be going in to the magazines, what the readers wanted, and to make a mock up of the next months issue of each magazine.

JJ was in charge of the mathematical side of things – How much it cost to print each magazine, and the wages of the writers, editors and photographers, and how much each magazine had to cost to make a profit large enough to keep building the company, but not so large that people stopped buying the magazines. He also took on the role of meeting with other companies to negotiate business deals.

The meeting that JJ was in this morning was to cut a deal with a fairly popular political magazine. Emily and JJ decided that it was time to expand on the types of magazines that they published. From research that JJ had done, he had discovered that most young people don't know or care a lot about politics. The idea was that they would start a magazine that focussed on politics, but in a way that was easier for younger people to understand and that explained a lot of the issues that young people care about. So JJ was meeting with this big political magazine company to try and negotiate a deal with them. If they agreed, then _Millennial _would pretty much control the magazine. And the original company would get a very generous cut of the profits, so it worked out well for everyone.

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An hour and a half later, the meeting was finally over. Emily, Effy and Freddie had put together a mock up for one of the magazines that would be going to print next week. When Effy and Freddie left, Emily sat at her computer and looked over the copious amounts of articles that she had been avoiding. While Emily loved her job, there certainly were times when it got annoying to have to read so many drafts of articles every month. Thank god she had Effy and Freddie to check the drafts before she did so that by the time they got to her, there weren't many changes that needed to be made.

Emily was halfway through reading yet another article on the latest celebrity who had got drunk at some award ceremony when JJ re-entered the office.

"Hey, how'd the meeting go?" Emily asked JJ.

"In my opinion, it went very well." JJ answered. "They are very interested in joining with us and they loved our plans for the magazine. They do, however, have a few conditions."

"Yeah? What conditions?"

"Well mostly it's just stuff to do with the financial side of things. They want a bigger percentage of the profits than I offered them. I'm pretty sure what they are asking is still well within our budget, especially considering the new marketing ideas I'm working through, but I just need to go over the sums a few more times to make sure I'm not missing anything." JJ explained.

"Well I'll leave you to sort that out. It's your call. If you think we can afford it then go for it, if you think it's not going to work out or it's too risky or something, then we can just either scrap it or try and re-negotiate. I'll leave it up to you, you know I'm shit at that stuff."

"Emily, you're only bad at it because you never try. If you would just let me explain it to you, then I'm sure you would be just as good at it as I am. Well maybe not _just_ as good, considering I do have an aptitude for mathematics, where as your talent generally lies more in the artistic side of things, but I'm still sure I could teach you to do it."

"That's fine, JJ, I'll leave it to you." Emily said, shutting JJ up before they could get in to yet another argument about Emily's lack of motivation to be involved in the financial aspects of the company. "Was there anything else they wanted?"

"Yes, they also said that they are happy to join with us, but they don't want us to change everything about the magazine. They would like some of it to stay the same."

"So what are they suggesting?" Emily asked.

"They would like to send one of their current employees over to us and for us to make them the editor of the magazine. You will still have the final say; they would just have a role similar to Effy and Freddie."

"That's probably actually really good. Freddie and Effy know nothing about politics, and they are probably both too busy to take on another magazine anyway. Getting someone that already knows the magazine and the job saves us from having to train someone up. We can afford to hire another person, can't we?"

"Yes, definitely. Our budget will allow us to hire an editor for the new magazine, which will be someone that the other company sends over to us. And we can also afford a couple of journalists and photographers. You might find you need to do a bit extra work for it, but we already knew that anyway. If the magazine becomes popular we can hire more workers in a few months."

JJ took a seat at his desk and started his computer up while Emily continued reading the drafts.

"Lara called just before, she said to remind you that you invited us over for dinner tonight." JJ told Emily.

"I know. I don't forget everything you know." Emily said defensively.

JJ raised an eyebrow at Emily.

"Okay, Panda reminded me earlier." Emily admitted. JJ laughed. "But the point is that I knew you were coming over. It's not going to be like last time when you all rocked up and I was out because I had forgotten."

JJ laughed. "Yes, that was a rather disappointing evening. So what are we having for dinner then?"

"Dunno. Panda's out shopping for me now. Depends on what she buys."

A few hours later and Emily had packed up her things and was leaving the office. She stepped out in to the cool afternoon air and began the short walk to her apartment building. Her phone started ringing when she was a few streets away. She pulled it out of her bag and smiled when she saw who was calling.

"Hey babe!" She answered.

"Why did I just get home to find a crazy blonde unpacking groceries in our kitchen?"

Emily laughed at her boyfriend's comment. "Sorry Cook. I forgot to tell you. Actually I forgot about it altogether. I invited Katie and JJ over for dinner tonight. Panda reminded me earlier and she said she would get some groceries for us."

"Oh okay. That's cool. I'm due for a catch up with Jaykins. He owes me ten quid for losing the bet on that football match last month."

"Fair enough. How was your day?"

"It was pretty good. You know Matt, my new apprentice I was telling you about? Well the idiot called in sick because he said his back was still hurting from when he tried to lift about a hundred bricks last week."

"Were you out by yourself then?" Emily asked, concerned that hey boyfriend was working himself too hard.

"Nah, Jake ended up having his job cancelled, so he came out and helped me. I swear, when this job is finished, we are going out and getting seriously trashed. I'm so sick of it."

After they had finished college, Emily had gone to university and Cook had got an apprenticeship with a landscaper. Things had gone really well for him, and he had worked his way up through one of Bristol's most popular landscaping firms. He was now in charge of a number of different jobs, doing both designing and the hands-on stuff, and he had a number of people working under him, including Matthew, his just-out-of-college apprentice.

"Only two weeks till this job is over right?" Emily asked.

"Yep. Just under two weeks if we stick to schedule. Then I have a week off before I start on this other big job for some billionaire and his wife that wants to fix up their whole yard."

Emily laughed. "My parents may be quite well off, Cook, but they definitely are not billionaires."

"Whatever. They're fucking loaded. How long till you're gonna be home, anyway?"

"About five minutes. I'm just walking now."

"Okay. Well I'll see you in a few minutes then. Want me to start on dinner?"

"Nah, that's cool. I'll see you in a minute."

"Okay, see you. And Emily?"

"Yeah?"

"I love you."

"I love you, too." Emily replied, a big smile on her face. "I'll see you in a sec."

Emily slipped her phone back in to her bag and walked the last couple of streets to the apartment. She pulled out her keys and opened the door to the building. She entered the large foyer area and waited for the elevator, pressing the button for the twelfth floor when it finally arrived.

Emily walked in to her large, double-story apartment and set her keys down on the table by the door. She hung her bag and coat off the hook on the back of the door and made her way in to the kitchen. The apartment was probably a bit bigger than it needed to be for just Emily and Cook. Hell, it was a lot bigger than it needed to be. But Emily was proud of it. She had a good job, and so did Cook. They could easily afford this place. They may not have needed the three bedrooms, the two bathrooms, the formal lounge and dining room, or the large balcony that spread around two sides of the apartment, but it definitely was enjoyable. The spare rooms were great for when family or friends came to stay. The lounge, dining room and balcony were great for entertaining, and the extra bathroom… Well that was just nice…

Emily found Cook in the kitchen unpacking the last of the groceries.

"Is Panda still here?" Emily asked.

"Nah, she said sorry, but she had to leave. Something about getting ready for making monkey?"

"Ha, yeah she has a date with Thomas tonight." Emily explained. "Hello, by the way." She said wrapping her arms around Cook from behind and kissing his back, through his t-shirt.

Cook turned around in Emily's arms and smiled down at her. "Hello." He said, placing his hands gently on her neck and pulling her in to a deep kiss. Emily rested her hands on Cook's hips as he slowly walked her backwards until she was pressed up against the kitchen counter. Cook's hands slipped down to Emily's stomach and he began to undo the buttons on her shirt.

"Bedroom?" He mumbled in to the kiss.

Emily smiled against his lips. "I'd love to," She said between kisses, "but people are going to be here in a while and I need to start on dinner." They kissed again. "And no offense, but you need to take a shower."

Cook pulled away and looked at her indignantly. "Are you saying I smell?" he asked, a slight smile creeping on to his face.

"Yep."

"Well I worked hard today, you know."

"So did I, but I don't smell like I haven't showered for a month."

"Yeah, you weren't carrying piles of bricks around all day."

"Whatever. You still stink."

"Come take a shower with me then?"

"I don't have time. Dinner's not going to cook itself."

"I wish it would." Cook said, remembering the last dinner party they had, when Emily had decided to make the pasta from scratch. It had not ended well.

"Hey!" Emily said, slapping Cook lightly on the shoulder. "I'm not normally that bad, that was just that once!"

Cook laughed. "I know. Just come with me. No one's going to care if dinner's a bit late." He said, taking Emily's hand and leading her toward the stairs.

"I don't know Cook. Katie won't be impressed if dinner is late."

"She'll just have to get over it then, won't she." Cook said, turning around and stepping close to Emily. "C'mon. We've both been so busy this last week, we've hardly had anytime to ourselves."

Emily stood on her tiptoes and kissed Cook lightly on the lips. "I know. I'm sorry about that."

"It's okay. I know you like your job. We just need to make the most of the time we do have together." Cook said, wrapping his arms around Emily and slipping his hands down to her bum. "So. Shower?"

"Fine." Emily agreed, "But just a quick shower, no funny business."

"You say that every time, babe. You should have learnt by now that you're unable to resist me."

"Me, unable to resist? You seem to be mistaken, James. I believe it's you that has no self control." Emily joked.

"Let's go find out, shall we?" Cook said, lifting up Emily. Emily wrapped her legs around Cooks waist and they awkwardly made their way upstairs to the bathroom, stripping themselves of their clothing as they went.

Half an hour later, Emily was rushing back down the stairs, trying to pull on a pair of jeans as she went. She walked to the front door and pressed the button on the intercom, putting an end to the constant buzzing.

"Yeah?" She said through the intercom.

"Hey, let us up." She heard her sister say. Emily pressed the button to unlock the front door. "Doors unlocked up here, just let yourself in." She said.

Emily walked in to the kitchen, pulling a t-shirt over her head as she went, and began looking through what Panda had purchased for her earlier. Deciding to just cook steaks and a salad, she pulled a variety of vegetable out of the fridge. She just began cutting them up when she heard the front door open.

"Ems?" She heard her sister call out.

"Hey." Emily said, walking out of the kitchen and back in to the entry hall. She was immediately almost knocked over by her nephew as he attached himself to her legs.

"Aunty Emsy!"

"Hey Zack! How was school today?" Emily asked the four year old, crouching down so she was the same height as him.

"Good! I painted a picture in art and I wrote a story about what I did on the weekend."

"Sounds good, buddy!" Emily said, standing up and walking over to her sister. She took her niece from her sister's arms.

"Hey Mia! Can I have a cuddle?" She asked the two-year-old. Mia wrapped her arms around Emily's neck and squeezed hard. She placed a sloppy kiss on Emily's cheek and struggled to get down. Emily placed her on the ground and she ran off with her brother to play with the stash of toys Emily always kept in the living room.

Emily gave her twin a kiss on the cheek. "How are you?" She asked.

"Good thanks." Katie replied unconvincingly.

Emily furrowed her eyebrows at Katie. "What's wrong?" She asked.

Katie just shook her head. "Nothing."

"Katie, I think I know you a bit better than that. Do you want to have a chat?"

Katie shook her head again. "I'll tell you after." She said quietly, as her husband walked in to the apartment, carrying a nappy bag and a portable cot with him.

"Hey Ben." Emily greeted him.

"Hey Em." He said, leaning down and pecking her on the cheek. "I'll just put these in the living room, if that's okay."

"Yeah, of course."

Ben walked through to living room and Emily turned back to her sister. She placed her hand on Katie's bulging stomach. "And how's my new niece or nephew?"

"Good. Actually we had a scan yesterday, and we found out the gender."

Emily looked up excitedly at Katie. "And?" She urged.

"We're having another girl." Katie said, a smile spreading across her face for the first time since she had entered the apartment.

"Yay! Congratulations!" Emily said, pulling her sister in to a hug.

"What's yay?" Emily heard Cook ask. She turned around to see him coming down the stairs. He crossed the entry hall and gave Katie a hug.

"Katie had a scan yesterday, they're having another girl!" Emily told him.

"Ah, congratulations." Cook said. "Zack's gonna be a bit outnumbered though. You better make sure you have another boy next time." He joked.

"I think three is enough for a while." Katie said looking a bit overwhelmed at the thought of having even more children.

"Is Ben here?" Cook asked.

"Yeah, he's in the living room with the kids." Katie told him.

"Wicked." Cook said, walking away from the twins and heading toward the living room. "Benjamin!" He called loudly, as he saw his best mate.

"Cookie!" Emily heard Ben reply, before she turned back to Katie.

"Wanna help me out in the kitchen?" She asked Katie.

"Yeah, sure." Katie answered, following Emily through to the kitchen.

"So what's up then?" Emily asked as they continued chopping up the vegetables for the salad.

Katie was about to speak when the intercom buzzed again.

"Cook, can you get that?" Emily called. "Sorry, go on." Emily said to Katie.

"It's nothing really." Katie said. "Just had a fight with Ben, that's all."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Really, it's nothing. I probably just over-reacted. Pregnancy hormones, you know."

"Okay" Emily said. She wasn't offended. She knew that her sister would talk to her about it if she wanted to.

A minute later Emily heard the front door open. JJ and Lara walked in to the kitchen. Two boys followed after them.

"Hey Albert" She said to the six year old boy. "Zack's in the living room if you want to go play with him."

A grin spread across the blonde-haired boys face and he ran out of the kitchen to go play with his friend.

"Hey Jonah." Emily said to the curly-haired two-year-old. "How are you?"

Jonah clutched on to his father's trousers and hid his face. "Sorry, he's having a shy day today." JJ said, picking up the boy that looked remarkably like him. "What can I do to help?"

"Do you want to cook the steaks?" Emily asked him, passing him a pack of steaks. "I'd ask Cook to do it, but he always manages to burn them. He really has no idea how to use that barbeque."

JJ put his son back down on the ground and took the steaks from Emily. He crossed the kitchen and grabbed a set of barbeque tongs from the drawer. "C'mon Jonah, do you want to come and help Daddy cook dinner?" JJ asked his son, holding out his hand for Jonah to take. Jonah's eyes lit up and he ran across the kitchen and took his father's hand, and followed him out to the balcony where the barbeque belonged.

"What would you like me to do?" Lara asked.

"Nothing, we're just about done here." Emily said. "Cook, Ben and the kids are in the living room, feel free to join them if you like."

* * *

Twenty minutes later, the six adults and four kids were sitting at the outdoor setting on the balcony, enjoy the last few minutes of sunshine and digging to their steak and salad.

"How's work going, Ben?" JJ asked.

Ben worked for the same firm as Cook, though he wasn't as high up, despite being a few years older than us, and having worked there longer.

"It's not too bad. I really enjoy it. My supervisor quit last week, which means his job is up for grabs. Cook seems to think I have a pretty good chance of getting it, right Cook?"

"Too right, mate. You're just as deserving as anyone else, and definitely more qualified. I'll have a chat to Dean if you like. Put in a good word for you." Cook said.

Despite their close friendship, Emily could tell that Ben got jealous of Cook sometimes. Ben had a degree, and was excellent at his job. Unfortunately, his commitment to Katie and his kids meant that his supervisor had overlooked him many times when it came to promotions, always choosing to promote the men that were more career-driven.

"That's great." JJ said, always the first to be happy for someone. "I really hope you get it."

"Thanks mate, I hope I do too." Ben said. "Better hours, better pay. Can't go wrong with that."

Katie's eyes shot up to Ben when he mentioned better pay. A gesture that did not go unmissed by Emily.

"Better pay, you say? Always a bonus." JJ said.

"Yeah, I'm telling you, a pay rise would definitely not go astray at the moment. Bloody struggle trying to make ends meet sometimes."

"Ben," Katie said warningly, letting him know that she didn't want him to talk about it.

"What, I'm just saying with only one income, two kids, and another on the way, it gets a bit tough sometimes."

"Now's not the time, yeah?" Katie said. "Besides, we're not the only one with one income and two kids."

JJ and Lara sat awkwardly in their seats. Cook cleared his throat and began to tell a story about something funny that Zack had done last time he and Emily babysat him. His story was cut short when Katie and Ben continued their argument over the top of him.

"What's the big deal, Katie? They're all our friends, there's nothing wrong with them knowing that we're struggling financially at the moment."

"It's just not their business." Katie said, rising from her seat. "You don't need to tell everyone about it." Katie dropped her serviette on her plate and walked back inside.

"Fucksake." Ben muttered, rolling his eyes.

"Ben, watch your language around the kids." Emily told him, also standing. "I'll go talk to her."

Emily walked back in to the apartment and found Katie in the lounge room, looking at the photos that sat on the mantle piece above the fireplace.

"This is a cute photo." Katie said, pointing to one. "Where did you find it?"

Emily crossed the room and stood next to Katie. She looked at the photo. Three young girls stood side by side, their arms wrapped around each other's shoulders. The eight-year-old Emily and Katie stood either side of a blonde girl, slightly taller than them, massive grins on all of their faces. They were all wearing their bathers, their hair dripping wet. A small paddling pool could be seen behind them.

"I found it at Mum and Dad's when I visited them last week. Mum told me I could have it."

"I remember that day." Katie said. "It was fucking hot. So Dad put the pool up in the backyard. And then Naomi's Mum and Dad came over and we had a barbeque for dinner. And me, you and Naomi ate in the tree-house."

Emily smiled at the memory. It had been a fun day.

"Mr. Campbell left not long after that. That's the last time I remember seeing him." Emily said.

"Do you know what ended up happening to Naomi and her mum? Last I remember was the day they left. We had a tea-party in Naomi's room."

"I don't know." Emily said sadly. "I never saw them again. Naomi and I sent a few letters to each other, but then we just stopped. Haven't heard anything about any of them since the summer after that photo was taken. I guess that would have been about six months after she moved to Manchester. So much for best friends forever, hey?"

Katie didn't answer. Emily looked over at her sister to see what had taken her attention. Emily followed Katie's line of sight to one of Emily's favourite photos. Emily had taken it at Zack's fourth birthday. Zack was wearing the trousers, button up shirt (buttoned right up to the top button) and suspenders that had been his birthday present form Cook. He was sitting on his father's shoulders. Ben had one arm around Katie, who was holding Mia. All of them were laughing. Even Mia was looking at the camera with a huge smile on her face.

"What's going on Katie?" Emily asked her sister.

"It's just a bit hard at the moment."

"In what way?"

"In every way. I never knew it was going to be this hard."

Emily nodded and sat down on the sofa, patting the seat next to her. Katie sat down and Emily took her hand, holding it between both of hers in her lap.

"Don't get me wrong, I don't regret a single thing. I love Ben and Zack and Mia so much, it can just be such a challenge sometime."

Katie had met Ben when she was in her first year of college. He was 20 and in his second year of his degree at uni. At first everyone thought it would just be another one of Katie's month-long relationships. She would date him, get a few presents from him, and then add him to her extensive list of ex-boyfriends. But it soon became clear that Ben was not like the other guys Katie normally dated.

He was smart, funny. He came from a great family. He got along well with Katie's friends. Katie's parents absolutely loved him. He was motivated – he had plans to finish his degree and start his own landscaping business. But his hopes for a great career were not as important as his desire for a great family.

Ben proposed to Katie just after she graduated from college. They were married a few months later, when Katie was 18. Ben put his plans of starting his own business on hold to get a steady job at the landscaping firm where he still works, so that he would be able to provide properly for his wife. Six months after that, Katie announced that she was pregnant, and everyone they knew was blessed by the birth of Zack. He was the perfect son. He slept through the night from a very early age. He hardly ever cried. He was happy and healthy, and loved by so many people.

When Katie had Zack, she left her job to be a full-time Mum. A lot of people thought she was insane to leave her job and start a family at such a young age, but it was what Katie had always wanted. To most people in college, Katie may have seemed like a stuck up, popular bitch, which she kind of was, but the people that were close to her knew that there was nothing more important to her than family.

When Zack was two, Katie and Ben had Mia. Mia was just as perfect as Zack. And while this put Ben's dreams of starting his own business on hold for a while longer, neither he, nor Katie, would ever change a single things about their lives. They were happily married. They were truly in love. It was obvious to anyone that they were meant for each other. Yeah, they had arguments just like any other couple, but their love for each other and for their children was so intense that neither would ever even consider leaving what they had.

"You and Ben been struggling a bit lately?" Emily asked.

"Yeah. Mostly just money stuff. We both agreed that I should stay home and look after the kids, but we were barely getting by as it was. And now with this one on the way, Ben feels like he needs to work even more." Katie said patting her stomach. "So I spend all day at home looking after the kids, and Ben spends all day at work. Half the time the kids are already in bed by the time he gets home. And he's always so tired; we never really have time to talk. He just gets home from work, he has some dinner, and we go to bed. If I try to talk to him about anything important it always just ends in a fight."

"It can be hard sometimes, hey?"

"That's the understatement of the fucking century."

"Katie, you know that you can always borrow money from me. Cook and me both have good jobs, we don't have kids. We have plenty of money saved up. It's not like we need it for anything."

"Thanks Emsy, but I can't take your money from you. I don't know when I would be able to pay you back and then I would feel bad."

"You don't need to pay me back. I don't mean to sound like a snob, but I really don't need all the money I have. It's just sitting in my account doing nothing."

"No. I appreciate it Emily, I really do. But I just wouldn't feel right about it."

"Fair enough. Well if you want a job I'll get you one at the company. I know Effy is struggling with her workload at the moment. I'm sure she'd love to have you help out with the fashion magazine. You'd be great at that."

Katie thought about it for a minute. "I can't. I need to be at home for the kids."

"If you want a job I'm sure we can work something out. I'll take a day off a week to look after the kids. Mum and Dad can look after them another day a week. That gives you a chance to work two days a week. It'll get you a bit extra cash, just till the baby comes."

"Thanks Ems. I'll think about it and talk to Ben. See what he thinks. He has this idea that I should stay home and look after the kids while he goes out to work. He thinks if he can't provide enough for us then he is failing as a husband and father or something ridiculous."

"Well that's stupid, but if you don't want to work, you can always just ask me for money. Or ask Mum and Dad for money. God knows they have plenty to spare."

"I already talked to Ben about that. He said he won't ask my parents for money. He says they will think he's not doing a good enough job or something. He can be so fucking proud sometimes."

Emily and Katie sat quietly for a moment. Emily looked over at Katie and saw a tear trickling down her cheek. Emily brushed it away and pulled Katie toward her, so that Katie's head rested on her shoulder.

"What's up, Kate?" Emily asked.

"I just feel like I've let things get too fucked up. Like we've let things get too far without trying to fix them. We had a fight on our way over here tonight. We had a fight just before Ben left for work this morning. He slept on the couch last night because I was already asleep when he got home. We just fight all the time. We never spend time just us together anymore. I know this baby wasn't exactly planned, but I am just as excited about it as I was with Zack and Mia. But it seems like Ben resents it a bit. Like it's the baby's fault that we don't have much money, and it's the baby's fault that he has to work longer hours."

"Hey, if he didn't want another kid he should have worn a fucking condom. He has no one to blame but himself." Emily said, trying unsuccessfully to lighten the mood.

"We don't even have sex anymore. We haven't had sex for almost two months."

"Jesus christ. If I held out on Cook for that long, he would have moved on to someone else a long time ago." Emily said.

"I'm not holding out on him. We just don't do it." Katie said sadly.

Emily sighed. "I'm sorry, Katie. I didn't know things were that bad."

"Well how would you have known? I didn't tell you till just now."

"Tell you what. The job that Cook's on at the moment ends in just under two weeks. Then he has a week off. I'll talk to JJ, check with him that it's okay, and I'll take the week off as well. Cook and me can have Zack and Mia for a few days. We can take Zack to school and pick him up. They can stay here for a few nights. They'll love it, Cook will love it, I'll love it. And you and Ben can go away for a few days together."

"Thanks Ems, but we can't afford for Ben to take time off work, let alone take a trip somewhere."

"It's on us. Five days. You can pick where you go. Paris, Berlin, Cyprus. Anywhere. All expenses paid. I'll get Cook to talk to Ben's boss. They'll be able to work something out."

"No, Emily, it's a lovely thought, really it is, but we could never accept that."

"You don't have a choice. Let me know by tomorrow where you want to go or I'll be picking for you. You and Ben are meant for each other. What you have is too perfect to let it get fucked up by some stupid financial worries."

Katie looked at her little sister. "You are amazing, Ems." She said, placing a kiss on Emily's cheek.

"You're my sister. I'd do anything for you. You know that, right?"

"I do know that. And I am very grateful. I might not be able to afford to shout you and Cook a holiday, but I'm here for you if you ever need anything else."

Emily stood up from the sofa and held out her hands to help her sister up. "C'mon." She said, "Let's go be sociable."

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**Review?**

**Oh and I don't own Florence and the Machine. The lyrics at the start may give you a bit of a clue of where this story is going. Or it might not. Whatever. **


	3. Chapter 2

**I'm very, very, very sorry that I haven't updated in so long! Apparently life decided that it hadn't thrown me enough shit yet this year and decided to throw me a whole heap more. So sorry if this chapter isn't quite up to scratch, but I didn't want to keep all you lovely readers waiting any longer. Hope you find it at least mildly enjoyable :)**

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**Chapter 2:**

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"Well that was an eventful evening." Emily said, rinsing off a dinner plate and passing it to Cook to place in the dishwasher. It was 9:30 and Katie, Ben, JJ and Lara had just left, carrying their sleeping children in their arms.

"Too fucking right babe. It's not like Ben to bring up personal problems in front of everyone. He must be really stressed."

"He is. They both are. Katie said they've been struggling a lot with money lately. And it's putting stress on their relationship. From what she said it looks like they're both having a really tough time."

Cook put another plate in the dishwasher and leant against the kitchen bench looking at Emily.

"Okay, spill it." He said.

Emily looked at Cook, feigning confusion. "Spill what?"

"Nuh-uh don't you fucking give me that." Cook said, a slight smile on his face.

"Give you what hun? I don't know what you're talking about." Emily said innocently, continuing to wash the dishes.

"I've known you too long to believe that bullshit, Red. You've done something. Something that you think I won't approve of. That's why you told me about Katie and Ben. Normally you never tell me any of that; tell me its 'sister stuff'."

Emily laughed. "Damn you and your all-knowingness."

"You know me, babe. Can't let nothing slip past me." He laughed.

"Well you know how you have some time off in a couple of weeks?"

"Yeah…?" Cook said warily

"Well… I told Katie that I would take some time off then as well." Cook's eyes lit up in excitement at Emily's words. "And that me and you would take Zack and Mia for a few days." Cook's eyes dropped slightly when he realised that he and Emily wouldn't be able to just spend all their free time together. "And I said that we will pay for Katie and Ben to go away for a few days."

"Oh. Okay. Where to? Just London?"

Emily scratched her nose, covering her mouth and muffling her answer to Cook's question.

"Sorry, didn't quite catch that." Cook said, worried about what the answer was going to be.

Emily turned to look at him. "Berlin." She stated.

"Berlin? As in Berlin, Austria?" Cook asked.

"No." Emily said. Relief flooded Cook's face. "As in Berlin, Germany." Emily corrected, hiding her smile at Cook's lack of geographical knowledge.

"Whatever. You said you'd send them to Berlin?"

"Yes. I said they could pick where they went. And Katie said that she really wanted to go to Berlin."

"How long for?"

"Five days."

"You're sending them to a different country for five days? Do you have any idea how much that's going to cost?"

"C'mon Cook. It'll be fun. Katie and Ben haven't been outside of the U.K since their honeymoon. They deserve it. They need some time to themselves, to work things out. What if we don't give them this trip and they end up splitting up? Hmm? Is that something you want on your conscience?"

"No, but-"

"Besides, you always have a blast when we have Zack and Mia. You love looking after them. I thought you would be quite excited."

"I know I do. And I know it will be fun. I was just kind of looking forward to having a week with just you and me. You know, going out to the pub in the evening; staying up all night talking and watching movies; spend all day in bed, have sex whenever we feel like it. Just do stuff we don't get to do anymore."

"Cook, we always have sex whenever we feel like it."

"Yeah okay, so that wouldn't be any different. But seriously, do you even remember the last time we stayed up all night just talking? We used to do that all the time. Now it's strange for us to stay up past 11pm."

"Tell you what. I'll take this entire weekend off." Emily said, walking over to Cook and wrapping her arms around his waist. "We'll take the entire weekend together. We'll do whatever you want on Saturday, go out to the pub on Saturday night, stay in bed late on Sunday. I'll tell Mum and Dad we can't make lunch this week. The whole weekend, just you and me. Sound good?"

"Sounds incredible. But I don't want you to do it if you have too much work to do. We can do it some other time."

"Nope. This weekend. Done and done."

"Are you sure?"

"Positive."

Cook leant down and kissed Emily lightly on the lips. "You are incredible."

"I know." Emily replied cheekily, stepping away from Cook and continuing with the dishes.

"You never answered my question from before though. Do you have any idea how much it'll cost to send two people to Germany for a week?" Cook asked.

"Does it matter? It's not like we can't afford it. We have plenty of money sitting in the account, just waiting to be used."

"That's the money we've been saving. What if something else comes up that we need it for?"

"Cook there's enough money in that account to send Katie and Ben around the world for a year. What's going to come up that we would need that much money for?"

"I don't know. What if the car breaks down and we need to get a new car?"

"Cook, your car is like a year old. It's not going to break down. And we would still have enough money anyway."

"What if we decide to get married? We would need that money for the wedding and honeymoon and everything."

Emily spun around to look at Cook, her eyes wide.

"Chill babe, that wasn't a proposal. It was completely hypothetical. But it's good to know where you're at." Cook joked.

"Oh. Right." Emily said, relieved. "Good. Just… I don't think we're ready for that yet."

"Yeah, definitely not. I mean we've only been together for five years and lived together for almost three years. Wouldn't want to rush in to anything." Cook said sarcastically. Emily knew he was just kidding around though.

Emily and JJ had met at school when they were 12 and had immediately become best friends. The two had met Cook when they started college and the three of them, as well as Katie had become good friends straight away. Emily and JJ dated for a while during their first year of college. It hadn't lasted long though. They both knew that they were better as just friends. So they had ended it amicably after a few months.

When JJ had started going out with Lara in their second year of college, Emily and Cook had grown closer. The day they had got their A-level results, the whole group had gone out to celebrate.

.

.

"_A, A, B!" JJ announced to the group before re-taking his seat. The group cheered as Emily rose to her feet._

"_A, A, C." She said. Once again, the group cheered for their friend._

"_B, B, C" Announced Cook. More cheers. Emily shot a huge grin at her mate. He always acted like he was stupid and didn't give a shit about his education, but Emily knew him well enough to know that he tried fucking hard to achieve the grades he got._

_It was Katie's turn next. "B, C, C." She said. _

_The rest of the group shared their results and Cook went up to the bar to order more drinks. Once the friends were all sufficiently tipsy, they began to move on to numerous other pubs and clubs. Lara met up with JJ at one of the pubs and Katie called Ben to meet them, leaving Cook and Emily, the only single ones from the group to stick together. Not that either one of them was complaining. Being best friends for the past two years meant that there were together almost constantly._

_It was after 3am when the 18-year-old Emily and Cook even considered going home. "Katie messaged saying she is going to stay at Ben's. You gonna come back to mine?" Emily asked Cook._

_This had become something of a routine over the past year. The whole group would go out, Katie would go back to Ben's and Cook would go back to Emily's. They never did anything. Just slept. But it meant that Cook didn't have to walk Emily all the way back to her parent's mansion, and then walk by himself back to his student accommodation._

"_Yeah, sounds good. Your parents won't mind, will they?" Cook said._

"_Cook, you've stayed over almost every weekend for a year, and you're over almost every afternoon. My parents love you."_

_It was a good thing Emily's parents were so blissfully unaware of most of the things their daughters got up to, Emily thought. It wasn't like Cook and Emily ever got up to anything when Cook stayed over, but if their parents knew that Katie was staying at Ben's and not Pandora's, like they always said she was, they probably wouldn't have been so willing to let Emily and Cook share a room so often._

"_Righto. Let's go then." Cook said._

_Emily and Cook made their way out of the club and headed off down the road to the Fitch house._

"_Piggyback me?" Emily asked when they had barely walked 100 metres. _

"_No fucking chance. You're not drunk enough for that." Cook said._

"_But my feet hurt." Emily whined._

"_Then you shouldn't have worn shoes that were so fucking high, should you?"_

_Emily looked at Cook and stuck our her lower lip. "Please?" She asked him quietly._

"_Fine. Jump on." Cook said stopping and crouching down slightly so that Emily could climb on to his back. _

_The two friends laughed and joked their way to Emily's house. Finally they arrived at the huge house that the Fitch's had purchased a few years back. The Fitch's used to live in a nice little house near all the rest of the friends, but when Emily and Katie were 11, when Rob Fitch's gym had really taken off, they had moved to the massive mansion a bit further away._

_Emily and Cook entered the house as quietly as they could and made their way up to the bedroom that Katie and Emily shared. They house had plenty of spare rooms, so there was no real need for them to share a room anymore, but when they had moved in to the house, Emily and Katie has still been quite young and had just assumed that they would share a room, as they always had. Now they were older, they were well aware that one of them could move in to the spare room, but the girls were close, and it didn't really bother them sharing._

_So Cook and Emily walked in to the huge bedroom, Emily sitting on the edge of her bed, Cook taking a seat on Katie's bed. They were both quite sober now, from the decent walk home. _

"_So that's it then. Everything college-related is officially over. Never need to worry about it again." Cook said._

"_Yeah, until it's time for university offers." Emily replied._

"_Not that you have anything to worry about then, even. You could get in to anywhere you wanted. Besides. what's done is done. You've got your grades – fucking great ones at that – and there's no changing it now. We've done our best and that's all there is. Couldn't do any better than that." Cook said._

"_Mm." Emily agreed sleepily. "I'm proud of you, Cook. You did really well."_

"_Right back at you, Emilio. Now let's go to bed, I'm fucking knackered."_

_Emily crossed the room and walked in to the large ensuite bathroom. She brushed her teeth and washed face and headed back in to the bedroom where she found Cook sitting on the bed again, now wearing a pair of track pants and a t-shirt that he always kept there._

"_You done in the bathroom then?" He asked, standing to his feet and walking to the door._

"_Yep, it's all yours." Emily replied._

_Emily pulled off the dress she was wearing and chucked it in the dirty clothesbasket. She walked to her bed and moved her pillow aside, expecting to see her pyjamas there, neatly folded, like their housekeeper put them everyday after gathering Katie and Emily's dirty clothes and making their beds. When they weren't there, Emily opened to the door to her wardrobe, thinking that maybe they had been washed and put away without her knowing. When she couldn't find them, she opened Katie's side of the wardrobe to have a look there. She heard Cook re-enter the room but didn't pay any attention. He had seen her in her bra and knickers more times than she could count. _

_Emily continued rifling through the wardrobe, but stopped suddenly when she felt a warm hand on her bare back. She spun around to see Cook standing right behind her, with a look on his face she hadn't seen before._

"_What's up, Cook?" She asked._

"_You're beautiful. You know that?" He said quietly, looking deep in to her eyes._

"_Uhh. Thanks?" Emily replied, confused as to where this was coming from._

"_Nah, I'm serious. You really are beautiful."_

"_Katie's beautiful." Emily said, turning back to the wardrobe to find a different pair of pyjamas, or anything really that would cover her up. She didn't really believe Cook. Katie was the beautiful one out of the twins. Emily was the smart one. That's just the way it was. Katie was beautiful and Emily was smart. Everyone knew it. Sure, Emily knew she wasn't ugly, but she would never consider herself to be beautiful._

_Emily stopped searching once again when she felt Cook take her hand and gently turn her around so she was facing him. Cook placed his hand under her chin and lifted her face up to his._

"_Katie has nothing on you." He said, leaning forward and catching her lips in a soft kiss. It only lasted a second before he pulled back and looked in to her eyes. Emily saw him moving forward again and she closed her eyes and allowed herself to respond to this kiss. She moved her lips in sync with his, opening her mouth when she felt his tongue brush against her lips._

_After a minute of kissing, Emily pushed Cook back a few steps until the backs of his legs hit the side of her bed. Cook sat down on the edge of the bed, Emily bending over at the waist so that they could continue the kiss. Cook was running his hands up and down Emily's naked thighs; Emily's hands were gripping tightly to Cook's neck. Cook scooted back on the bed so that his back was resting against the wall, his legs straight out in front of him. Emily crawled on to the bed and straddled his lap, not once breaking the kissing. _

_After a few minutes, Emily reached down and gripped the hem of Cook's T-shirt and began to tug it up over his head. Cook raised his arms and allowed Emily to pull it off the rest of the way and drop it to the ground. Emily then reached behind her own back and undid the clasp on her bra and began to pull it off._

"_Wait," Cook said, grabbing her hands and stopping her before she could remove her bra completely._

"_What?" Emily said, confused and slightly embarrassed that she had taken charge, when this clearly wasn't even what Cook wanted._

"_Are you sure you want to do this?" Cook asked._

_Emily breathed a sigh of relief and smiled at him, her embarrassment disappearing immediately. "Yeah, I'm sure." She said, capturing his lips in hers once again. _

_Cook reached up to Emily's shoulders and slid her bra straps down her arms, exposing her breasts. He gently removed Emily from his lap and pushed her backwards so that she was lying on her back on the bed. Cook lowered his body on top of hers, and Emily thought how strange it was that this didn't feel awkward, before she was lost in pleasure, as Cook kissed his way down her body._

_Emily awoke a few hours later to find her bed empty. She lifted her head off the pillow and looked around the room in confusion, worrying that Cook had been scared off, or that he hadn't enjoyed it as much as she had. She looked over to Katie's bed and saw Cook sitting there, wearing his gray track pants, a broad smile etched across his face._

"_Hi there," Cook said, still smiling at his friend._

"_Hey." Emily rubbed her eyes and adjusted to the bright sunlight streaming through the window behind Cook. "How come you're over there?" she asked._

"_Didn't think it would be too good if Mama or Papa Fitch walked in to find us in bed together. They would never let me stay over again." Cook said._

_Emily sat up slowly, holding the sheet up to her chest to make sure she was covered. Cook, sensing Emily's discomfort at the situation, rose to his feet and pulled a t-shirt over his head. "I think I'll go say good morning to Rob and Jenna and get some breakfast. Want me to bring anything up for you?" He asked._

_Emily shook her head. "No thanks."_

_Cook crossed to the room to the door, stopping with his hand on the door handle to look back at Emily. "We'll be doing that again, right?" He asked, a cheeky smile on his face._

"_Definitely." Emily agreed, struggling to keep the grin of her own face._

"_Good." Cook said, opening the door, exiting the room, and closing the door behind him._

_._

_._

"As I recall, you were the one that was so ridiculously scared of commitment for the first four months of our 'relationship'." Emily said, making air quotations with her fingers when she said _relationship._ "If I recall correctly, you were the one that insisted we remain as fuck buddies for the entire summer after we got our results. It wasn't until I said that I was planning on going to London for uni that you admitted you loved me and begged me to stay here in Bristol with you."

"Hey, you know you didn't really want to go to Goldsmiths anyway. You only told me you were going to so that I would convince you to stay here with me." Cook retorted.

"Yeah, well it worked didn't it." Emily said sly grin at Cook.

"Yeah. It did." Cook admitted, smiling back.

* * *

"Good morning, Emily." JJ said as he entered the office, placing his briefcase on his desk and hanging his jacket on the back of his chair. "You're in early."

"Hey JJ. Yeah, I want to get a lot of work done today. I was thinking about taking the weekend off. Is that okay?"

"Emily, you don't need to ask things like that. You're not even supposed to work weekends."

"Well we have a lot of work to do."

"That doesn't mean you shouldn't take your weekends. Besides, your workload should lessen a bit pretty soon. I got a call from the political magazine. After I went over all the details yesterday, I called them and said that we could meet all their requirements. So they have agreed to join us." JJ told Emily.

"Awesome. That's great. Good work, Jay."

"Yes, thank you. So they have suggested an editor to me, one that they think would be great for the magazine. A Ms Mason." JJ said, checking the name on a piece of paper on his desk. "I have a conference call with her in a hour to go over everything and see if she would be interested in coming over for a face-to-face meeting to make sure she's right for the company and to finalise everything."

"Ms Mason? Sounds like some 50-year-old librarian." Emily joked.

"Yes, they didn't provide me with many other details about her. She's had quite a bit of experience though. Studied politics and journalism at university, worked for a small newspaper and then did a bit of freelancing, writing politics pieces. She was picked up by this magazine and has worked her way up to chief editor in just a couple of years."

"Sounds impressive." Emily said slightly sarcastically, never a fan of people who seemed to work their way up to the top effortlessly. Mostly because she worked so hard to get to where she was, yet others seemed to do it with no problems. "But how is this going to lessen my workload? You said yesterday that I'll probably need to do more work."

"Yes, that's true, I did say that, but I've since gone over the sums and our budget and have discovered that we will be able to afford to hire a few more people that I originally thought. So we'll get the new editor, and she will pretty much run the magazine. We will also be able to hire a couple of journalists, as well as picking up some stuff from freelancers. And we can hire a couple of photographers, but will also have to rely largely on freelancers for that as well. And we can also hire a graphic designer who will work with Ms Mason, assuming she is the one we hire, to put together the magazine. All you will need to do is go over the final copy of the magazine, like you do with Freddie and Effy."

"Cool. Well I need to go downstairs and do some work with Eff, do you need me back for the conference call or are you right to do it yourself?"

"I'll be fine by myself, but you're welcome to join if you would like to."

"Nah, that's fine, I trust you."

.

.

An hour and a half later, Emily re-entered her office, surprised to see JJ still sitting at his desk.

"Shouldn't you be talking to _Ms Mason_ at the moment?" Emily asked, crossing the room and putting some papers away in the filing cabinet.

"Already done." JJ said.

"Already? That was quick."

"Yeah, well she was very easy to get along with. She's flying over for Monday and we'll meet her face to face. We can make a definite decision after that."

"Good-o. What was she like?"

"Smart, polite, friendly. Extremely attractive."

Emily looked over at JJ. "Why are you telling me that? You're married and I'm straight."

JJ shrugged sheepishly. "You asked what she was like, that was what came to mind."

Emily's office phone buzzed just as she took her seat at her desk. She pressed the intercom button. "Hey Panda," She said.

"Hi Emily! Hello JJ! If you're there… If he's not there, Emily, tell him I said hi when he comes ba-"

"Yes, I'm here, Panda. Hello." JJ said, cutting Pandora off before she could really start.

"What's up Panda?" Emily asked.

"Your Mum's on the phone. Is now a good time to talk to her?"

"Yeah, put her through."

Emily heard Panda press a couple of buttons and she picked up the phone and put it to her ear. "Hey Mum."

"Hello, Emily. How are you?"

"Good thanks, how are you?"

"Very good thanks."

"Good. How's Dad?"

"He's good too."

"And James?"

"James is... James. You know what he's like."

Emily laughed, "Yep. Is he still enjoying uni?"

"Yes, I think he is. Although whenever I ask him about it he just starts talking about that Gordon Macpherson. Apparently they have a lot of the same lectures."

"Oh god. I can't believe James is still friends with that pervert."

"Yes. James keeps saying that he and Gordon are going to move in to a flat together next year. He says he needs his own _shag pad_, since your father and I aren't entirely comfortable with him bringing girls back here."

"Since when has that stopped him before?"

"It hasn't. I'm trying to convince your father to talk him out of it, but he says he needs to learn to be a man."

Emily and her mother chatted for a few more minutes, before Emily steered the conversation in a different direction.

"Listen, Mum, I'm glad you called. Me and Cook won't be able to make lunch this Sunday."

"Oh. Why not?"

"We haven't had a lot of time to ourselves lately so we are taking the whole weekend together."

"And you don't have time to spend two hours with your parents and siblings?"

"Well I saw Katie, Ben and the kids last night. And it's not like James will care. And I'll probably see Dad at the gym tonight."

"So I'm the only one that doesn't get a visit from my daughter and son-in-law?"

"He's not your son-in-law, Mum. We're not married, we just live together."

"Well you might as well be married. And it's only a matter of time before you are, so there's nothing wrong with me calling him my son."

"Yeah, whatever, Mum." Emily said, rolling her eyes. "Listen though, if you want to catch up we could meet up for lunch of coffee or something on Friday?"

"I'm taking Katie to her antenatal appointment on Friday."

"Really? How come you're taking her?"

"She said that Ben needs to work. And she can't just go by herself because she'll have Mia with her and it will be too hard. So I said I would take her, and I can help watch Mia. Plus it's good to have a second set of ears to hear what the doctor says, just in case Katie misses or forgets something."

"Fair enough. Okay, so we'll just see you for lunch next Sunday then."

"Yes, okay dear. I'll let you get back to your work."

"Thanks. Love you, Mum."

"I love you, too, Emily. Tell Cook I love him, too, and give him a hug and a kiss from me."

"Will do. See you later."

"Bye."

Emily hung up the phone and looked at the time. "Jesus, that woman can talk." Emily said, noticing that it was already time for her next meeting. She stood up, gathered some papers and walked to the door. "I've gotta go meet with Chris. You wanna have lunch together when I get back?" She asked JJ.

"I'm having lunch with Thomas, but you're welcome to join us if you'd like."

"Nah, that's cool. You guys have fun."

* * *

Before Emily knew it, it was 3pm Friday afternoon and she was packing up her things for the weekend.

"You sure you don't mind me leaving a bit early today?"

"Emily, you've been working 10 hour days all week. You could have taken the entire day off. And stop treating me like I'm your boss. I'm not." JJ said.

"Sorry. Okay, I'm off then. I'll see you Monday. Have a good weekend. And give Lara and the boys a kiss from me."

"And you give Cook one from me." JJ joked.

Emily walked in to the apartment, hung her coat on the back of the door, threw her keys on the hall table, dumped her bag on the ground and walked through to the lounge room, expecting to see Cook there. When he wasn't there, she checked the kitchen. Upon finding that also empty, she began climbing the stairs to the second floor. She knew he was home because his jacket was hanging on the door next to hers and his keys were on the hall table.

"Babe, you home?" She called through the quiet house. She walked in to the bedroom, a smile gracing her face as she saw a bunch of roses in a vase on her bedside table that hadn't been there this morning. She walked over to the bedside table and smelled the roses, pulling out the little card that was attached. She pulled it out of the tiny envelope and opened the card.

'Emily,' the card read, 'just because I love you xoxo'

Emily's smile grew even more and she shivered as she felt a cool wind blow through the room. She looked over to the French doors that led to the balcony and saw that they were slightly ajar. She walked across the room and slipped outside quietly, smiling as she saw Cook leaning against the railing, looking down on to the street below, smoking a cigarette. She walked up behind him quietly and wrapped her arms around his waist. Cook jumped slightly at her touch, but relaxed when he realised it was Emily. He twisted one arm behind him and hugged her back as best he could from their awkward positions.

Emily moved to stand beside Cook and lent against the railing, mimicking his position. Cook wrapped an arm around Emily's shoulder and she lent in to him, kissing him lightly on the cheek, and then plucking the cigarette from between his lips, taking a puff, and then putting it back between his lips.

"Thank you for the roses." She said, "They're lovely."

"You're welcome. I didn't expect you to be home this early. I would have made myself look pretty." He said with a wink.

Emily laughed. "I think you look very sexy in your trackies."

Emily and Cook stood on the balcony for a few minutes longer, finishing off the cigarette. When it was done, Cook flicked it down to the road below.

"Cook, do you have to do that? There's an ashtray right there." Emily said, pointing to the ashtray that sat a couple feet away.

Cook gave a shy little smile and kissed Emily on the cheek. "I'm sorry babe." He said.

Emily shook her head at his manipulative ways. "So. Friday afternoon, we have two a little bit days to spend together, just you and me. How do you want to start it? Pub? Club? Cinema? Fancy dinner? Check out some local band?"

"Actually, I hired a couple of movies. There's some beer chilling in the fridge and a take out pizza menu by the phone."

"Seriously? Our weekend of doing things we never get to do anymore is being kick started by beer, pizza and movies? You're getting old and lame, Cook."

"It's about spending time together, not necessarily doing things we don't do anymore. And I'm not old and lame, I'm just saving up all my energy for tomorrow night."

"What are we doing tomorrow night?"

"Hitting up the clubs! Getting drunk, high and whatever else we feel like."

"Cook, we're 23, not 18."

"Yeah, well maybe we'll just hit the pubs then. Have some dinner, a few drinks, play some pool. Whatever it is the grown ups do these days."

Emily laughed. "Sounds good. So what movies did you get then?"

"'Shutter Island' and 'Where the Wild Things Are'. You can pick what we watch."

"Ooh, Where the Wild Things Are. Definitely." Emily said excitedly.

"Good. I was hoping you'd pick that. Now, you change in to your trackies, I'll grab the beer and I'll meet you in the lounge room."

* * *

"Ugh, do you have to get up yet?" Cook groaned as Emily pressed the snooze button on the alarm clock, silencing the incessant beeping for another five minutes.

"I can have a couple more minutes." Emily mumbled as she lay her head back down on the pillow.

The weekend really had gone too fast for both Emily and Cook's liking. They had stayed up late watching movies on Friday night, slept in late Saturday morning and spent the day together. Then they went out for dinner in the evening and then to the pub for drinks and pool. They stayed in bed late again on Sunday before going to a café for lunch and then to the cinema. They had spent the rest of Sunday wrapped up between the sheets, simply enjoying each other.

Cook wriggled over, closer to Emily and draped his arm over her stomach, lightly brushing his fingers over her ribs. He buried his face in her neck, kissing her softly over and over again. Emily reached an arm up and rested her hand on the back of Cook's head, playing with his short hair.

"Mmm, that feels nice." She said.

Cook moved his hand slightly so that it was cupping her naked breast and kissed his way along Emily's jaw until he reached her lips. Her kissed her lightly once, twice and then again, deepening it.

"Do you have time?" Cook asked. Emily knew what he was suggesting.

"No. I'm sorry." Cook groaned in disappointment. "I really am sorry. I just can't be late today."

Emily climbed out of bed and pulled on her robe. Cook sat up and reached for his pyjama pants that were left on the ground.

"You don't need to get up yet." Emily told him, "You don't need to be at work for a couple of hours yet."

"Yeah, but I'd rather spend some time with you now."

"Aww, aren't you sweet." Emily said, walking over to Cook's side of the bed and kissing him. "Wanna join me in the shower?"

"Do you even need to ask?" Cook said with a wink, jumping up off the bed and walking straight to the ensuite bathroom, holding the door open for Emily.

* * *

"Hey JJ." Emily said an hour later, passing JJ his usual coffee order.

"Hey Ems. Thanks." He said, taking the coffee. "Ready for the meeting?"

"Yep, where and when is it?"

"I sent a car to pick her up at the airport, she should be here in about 20 minutes. And we're meeting in meeting room three."

"Great. Well I've got some stuff I need to give to Freddie, I'll meet you there in a bit then."

15 minutes later, Emily made her way to meeting room three. She opened the door and stepped inside the room.

"Ah, here she is." She heard JJ say. Emily turned around to see whom JJ was talking to. "I'd like you to meet my business partner-"

"Emily?"

"Naomi?"

.

.

* * *

**Hope that wasn't too disappointing. And sorry for any mistakes. It's 2am and I'm fucking tired. And sick. **

**Also, I haven't forgotten about 'House Made of Paper', incase anyone was wondering... Just struggling with it a bit at the moment...**

**.**

**Review? They surely do bring a smile to my face :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**Again, I'm sorry for the delay. Life really is crazy at the moment. But I decided not to do a uni assignment so I could get this chapter up for you lovely readers.**

**Hope you enjoy. **

**And thanks very much for the reviews :) Glad to see that there are some people out there that are enjoying this story.**

* * *

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**Chapter 3:**

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Emily closed the door to the boardroom and turned around to meet her newest potential employee. She heard JJ begin to introduce them, but was distracted by the clear blue eyes that were so familiar, yet so foreign. The blue eyes pored back in to hers, before suddenly filling with realisation.

"Emily?"

Emily's eyes widened as she recognised the woman standing before her.

"Naomi?"

"Apparently my introduction is not necessary." JJ said, looking between the two women. "You two already know each other?"

"We were friends when we were kids." Emily explained, crossing the room to where JJ and Naomi stood. As Emily got close, she began to reach her arms out to embrace her old friend. She saw Naomi take a tiny step back, an expression that looked strangely like fear flashed across her face. Emily, sensing Naomi discomfort, stopped abruptly, keeping a few feet distance between them and dropped her arms back to her side.

Naomi held out her hand for Emily to shake. Emily took it and squeezed gently, looking up to meet Naomi's gaze as she did so. Naomi had the slight trace of a smile on her lips and was staring deep in to Emily's eyes. It felt, to the red head, that Naomi could see right through, in to her soul. The blue eyes pored so deeply through the brown it seemed as though Naomi could see every thought that had ever gone through Emily's mind. Yet at the same time, they seemed kind of… empty… Like they were seeing everything and nothing at the same time.

The entire exchange had taken only a few seconds, yet to Emily it could have been an hour, a week, a year. Time had lost all meaning. She was shaken from her thoughts when she heard JJ's voice fill the room again.

"Well this is a strange coincidence, isn't it? I have no idea about exact figures, but I know that the chances of meeting someone that one used to be friends with, after not having seen them for many years, especially when both live on opposite sides of a country as copiously populated as ours is extremely unlikely."

Naomi turned to look at JJ, eyes wide, clearly trying to process the complicated way that JJ had said 'what a coincidence".

"Um, yeah, strange." Naomi agreed.

"Well shall we get down to business then?" JJ asked, holding out a chair for Naomi to take a seat.

"Yeah, thanks." Naomi said, sitting down and placing a folder down on the large table in front of her.

JJ and Emily took their seats at the table, JJ next to Naomi, Emily opposite her.

"Well, I have gone over most things with your boss already, most of what's left is just explaining what your job here would be, going over things like hours you would work, pay, whether you work from Manchester or here. That kind of stuff. We're fairly flexible with things, so let us know what you want and we'll try and accommodate as best we can. And, of course, if you have any questions or contributions you would like to make, feel free to chuck them out there." JJ said.

The three spent the next hour discussing every aspect about what Naomi's new job would involve. When no one could think of anything else to say or ask, JJ and Emily packed up their things and rose to their feet, Naomi copying their actions.

"Well Naomi, we would very much like to have you on board with us. If you could let us know your decision by the end of the week, that would be great. Of course if you need longer to think about things, that's fine as well, just let us know."

"Actually, Mr Jones, I don't have to think about it. I would love to work for you."

"Well I'm very pleased to hear that, but are you sure you don't need more time to consider things?"

"I'm sure. I was pretty sure I wanted to work here before I came down. I just thought I should meet with you anyway. But I'm certain. I'd love to work for you."

"Well that's great. Perhaps we should talk about when you can start then?" JJ said, pulling out his seat again to sit down.

"I don't think there's too much to discuss." Naomi said, "I'm ready to start as soon as you want me."

"Don't you have things in Manchester to sort out before you can move here? Family to discuss this with, wrapping up things at your current job, providing your two weeks notice, time to pack up your things?"

"Not really. Since my current magazine are technically sending me here, I don't need to give them two weeks notice, because I'm not really quitting. It's more like a transfer. And I don't really have much stuff to pack up anyway. Most of the things I need, I brought with me."

"Okay then. We'll you're welcome to start as soon as you like. It's completely up to you." JJ said. "If you follow us up to our office, you can leave your details with Thomas or Pandora, and give them the details of what hotel you'll be staying at until you are able to find permanent residence here. That way the company will be able to pay for your stay there. Of course, if you do wish to go back to Manchester for any reason, we will also pay for any moving costs."

"Thanks very much. I appreciate that." Naomi said.

JJ led the way back upstairs to his and Emily's office. Emily walked with Naomi slightly behind.

"So how have you been?" Emily asked.

"I've been well, thanks. How have you been?"

"Yeah, good."

"So you own this company then?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, JJ and I started it together after we finished uni. Started out pretty small but has been growing a lot."

"That's good. I'm glad things have worked out well for you."

"Yeah, you too." Emily said, looking sideways at Naomi as they walked. She saw a slight smile flash across Naomi's face, before disappearing almost immediately to be replaced with you usual look of indifference. Although a smile may not be the best way to describe it. It was kind of sarcastic. More like a smirk, or a grimace or something. It was strange. Emily couldn't quite figure it out. So she chose to just leave it.

"Are you sure you want to start here straight away? Don't you want to go back and say goodbye to your Mum or something?"

"No." Naomi stated.

Emily was slightly confused by how Naomi seemed so distant from everything. Although, after 15 years, she could hardly expect them to go straight back to being best friends again, Emily thought. Neither had any idea what the other had been through. Emily had no idea what Naomi's life in Manchester was like. She had no idea why she stepped back from Emily's hug; she had no idea why her eyes seemed to be so empty, yet so full at the same time; she had no idea why she seemed so eager to start immediately, or why she didn't have to go back to Manchester to pack any of her stuff, or why she didn't want to go back and say goodbye to her mother, who she had once been so close with.

Deciding it was hardly her place to ask those questions, Emily dropped it, and they continued to the walk to their office in silence. As desperately as Emily wanted to get to know her old friend, she knew she couldn't force herself upon Naomi. She was clearly a different person now. Heck, Emily was too. They were no longer the eight-year-old kids that spent all their free time having make-believe tea parties in the tree house and playing hide and seek. Naomi was no longer the one Emily told all her secrets to, and Emily wasn't the one that Naomi cried to about her father leaving. They didn't sleep over each other's house every Saturday night. Emily's Dad no longer trained the football team they both played for every Wednesday afternoon after school. They didn't do their homework together every afternoon in Gina's kitchen anymore. They didn't help Jenna bake cupcakes every Saturday morning so that they would have something to eat at their weekly tea party with Katie. They didn't read James the stories that they had written in class, and teach him how to tie his shoelaces.

They were different. They were grown up. They had grown apart. And there was nothing Emily could do about it now. It was too late to mend things. If they wanted to be friends now, they would pretty much have to start from scratch. This was the conclusion Emily had come to by the time they reached her office. They walked up to Panda's desk and gave Panda the details of the Naomi's hotel.

Once Naomi had filled out a couple of forms and Emily had called for a car to pick Naomi up and take her to her hotel, Emily walked Naomi down to the lobby on the ground floor to wait. They walked to the street outside and sat down on a wall out the front of the building.

"Do you mind if I smoke?" Naomi asked Emily.

"It's fine, as long as you give me one." Emily answered. A smile spread across Naomi's face. The first real smile Emily had seen her give seen they had re-met up in meeting room three, an hour and a half ago. It may have been small, it may have only lasted for a second, but Emily could tell that it was real. Naomi pulled a packet of fags out of her jacket pocket and offered them to Emily. Emily pulled one out and spun it around her fingers while Naomi pulled one out for herself. She set the packet down on the ledge beside her and pulled out a lighter, lighting Emily's cigarette first and then her own.

The two sat in silence for a moment; smoking the cigarettes and watching the people bustle past. Suddenly a thought dawned on Emily.

"Hey, are you married?" She asked suddenly.

Naomi turned to look at her. "No. Why?"

"Well when JJ said we were meeting someone, he said that it was someone called 'Ms Mason'. Your last name is… was… Campbell."

Naomi was silent for a minute. Her eyes turned back to the ground near her feet. "Yeah, I changed it." She said.

"How come?"

Again, Naomi took a moment before answering. "I just… did."

"Fair enough." Emily said, slightly put off by Naomi's stand off-ish attitude. Then she remembered that she was supposed to be making an effort, even if it meant starting from scratch. She pulled a pen out of her pocket and rummaged around for a piece of paper. When she couldn't find one, she picked up the box of cigarettes sitting on the ledge between them. She scribbled her mobile number on to it and passed it to Naomi.

"So I know you have the office number, but here's my number too, just in case you need anything, or just want some company or whatever. I imagine you don't know too many people in Bristol these days."

"Not a lot, no." Naomi said quietly, pocketing the box of fags. "Thank you, Emily," She said after a moment of silence. "I really appreciate that."

"You're welcome." Emily said, smiling to herself at how sincerely Naomi had thanked her. It was as if no one had ever given her their number or offered to hang out with her before.

A minute later a shiny black car pulled up on the street in front of them. A man climbed out and walked to the back door of the car and opened it. Naomi and Emily stood up and walked to the car.

"Thanks Mick, I've got it." Emily said to the driver, who gave Emily and nod and got back in the drivers seat. Emily held the door open for Naomi, who climbed in to the back seat and buckled her seatbelt.

"Thanks for everything, Emily. It was nice to see you again." Naomi said politely.

"Yeah, it was good. I guess I'll see you tomorrow then."

"Yeah. See you." Naomi said. Emily closed the door gently and took a step back from the car. Mick started the car and was just about to pull away from the curb when Emily took a quick step back to the car and opened Naomi's door again. Naomi looked up at her in confusion.

"Do you want to come over for dinner tonight?" Emily asked quickly before Naomi could ask what she was doing.

"Oh. Um, sure, I guess." Naomi replied.

"Great. Well, um… I'll get your number from Pandora and give you a call then."

"Alright. Talk to you later then." Naomi said, a tiny amused smile on her face.

"Yeah. Talk to you later." Emily said, closing the door again turning around to walk back in to the building. Just before she got to the doors, she turned around to see the car pulling away from the curb. Naomi gave a quick smile and a wave from the backseat, before the car disappeared among the traffic and drove off down the road.

Emily got the elevator back up to her office, stopping by Panda's desk to get Naomi's mobile number so she could give her a call. She walked back in to the office to find JJ sitting at his desk, talking to Effy who was sitting on the sofa against the far wall, under the big windows.

Emily took a seat at her desk and talked with JJ and Effy for a while. She attempted to do some work, but found that her mind was too busy focussing on what she would say to Naomi when she called her.

"Something on your mind, Em?" Effy asked her, after slamming her pen down on the desk for the fourth time in frustration at the empty sheet of paper in front of her. JJ had left the office a minute before to talk to Thomas about something, leaving just Emily and Effy in the room.

"Huh? Oh, no. Nothing." Emily replied distractedly, picking up the little piece of paper with Naomi's number on it and staring at it.

"What's that you've got there?" Effy asked her.

"Just Naomi's number."

"As in Naomi that you just hired?"

"Mm hmm."

"And why do you have her number?"

"We were friends when we were kids. I knew she didn't know anyone here, so I invited her over for dinner tonight. I said I would call her with the details." Emily said.

"Okay. So call her." Effy told Emily.

"What do I say?"

"Just invite her over for dinner. Not that hard. You make like a hundred phone calls a day, what are you scared of?"

"Nothing, she was just a bit… distant… today. She intimidated me a little bit."

"Well she agreed to come to dinner, didn't she? So she can't hate you that much."

Emily picked up the phone off her desk and began to enter Naomi's number. She paused halfway through and looked over at Effy.

"Yeah, okay, okay. I'm leaving." Effy said, standing up and walking to the door. "Good luck." She said, leaving the office and closing the door behind her.

Emily punched in the rest of the number and pressed dial, holding the phone to her ear and listening to the ringing. Part of her hoped that Naomi wouldn't answer and she would get the message bank so that she wouldn't actually have to talk to her. The other part hoped that Naomi _would_ answer, because Emily hated her message machine voice and never knew what to say to a machine.

Emily heard Naomi pick up on the fourth ring.

"Hello?" Naomi answered

"Hi! Er, hello." Emily said clearing her throat. There was a silent pause for a moment before Emily realised she hadn't actually said who she was. She was just about to introduce herself when Naomi spoke.

"Emily?"

"Yeah, sorry. Um I was just calling about dinner tonight."

"Yeah...?"

"Er would… um… seven be a good time for you?"

"Yeah, seven's great." Naomi said. Emily could hear the amused tone with which she spoke. Could practically see the sarcastic smile on her face.

"Great. Is there anything in particular you want to eat for dinner? Are you a vegetarian or anything?" Emily asked, gaining a little but of confidence.

"No, anything is fine by me. I'm easy pleased."

"Okay. Well I'll send a driver to pick you up from your hotel around 6:45."

"Oh that's fine. If you just tell me your address, I can just get a taxi."

"No, don't be silly. This is technically a business trip you're on, one of the drivers can get you."

"Well okay. If you're sure."

"I'm sure. I'll see you at seven."

"Okay. See you."

"Bye Naomi."

Emily placed the phone back down and took a deep breath, noticing for the first time how fast her heart was beating. She stood up walked to the sofa, grabbing her packet of cigarettes out of the top drawer of her desk on the way. She lit up and opened the window, taking a deep drag and feeling herself relax as the nicotine flooded her system.

A few hours later, Emily arrived home, hung up her coat, threw her keys on the table, dumped her bag on the ground, just as she did every day. She walked upstairs to the bedroom to find Cook folding some clean clothes and putting them away in the wardrobe.

"Hey babe." Emily said walking in to the room.

"Hey Ems." Cook said, "Didn't hear you get home."

"Just got in a second ago." Emily said, walking over to Cook and kissing him on the lips.

"Cool. How was work?"

"It was good. We hired someone to run the politics magazine." Emily said.

"That's great!" Cook said excitedly. Emily had been keeping him informed of the progress they had been making at work, so Cook knew how much it meant to Emily and JJ to have finally landed the deal. "Who did you hire?"

"You know that photo that I got from Mum and Dad's the other week? The one above the fireplace… Of me and Katie and the other girl, Naomi, who we were friends with when we were little?"

"Yeah."

"Her."

"Her who?" Cook asked confused.

"The other girl. Naomi. That's who we hired."

Cook put down the shirt he was folding and turned to look at Emily. "How did that come about?"

Emily shrugged. "Just did. She flew over from Manchester for the meeting and it just happened to be her."

"Wow. Strange coincidence."

"Yeah. So I knew that she didn't know anyone over here so I invited her over for dinner tonight."

"Okie dokie. What were you planning on doing for tea then? I got the stuff out to make that chicken linguine, but if you want to make something else that's fine."

"Nah, linguine sounds great." Emily said, untucking her shirt from her skirt and undoing the buttons.

"Cool. What time is she coming?"

"Seven."

"Righto. I'll start cooking in a while then."

"Thanks hun. I'll be down in a minute, I'll just finish getting changed." Emily said, pulling off her skirt and walking to the wardrobe to find some clothes to change in to.

She felt Cook move to stand behind her, placing his hands on Emily's hips, burying his face in her neck. Emily tilted her head to the side, giving Cook more space to kiss. Emily stood in front of the open wardrobe for a minute enjoying Cook's touch as he ran his hands over her naked stomach. Cook's lips moved over to Emily's ear as his hands began to drift higher.

"I've known you for seven years," Cook whispered, moving his hand sup to cup Emily's bra-clad breasts, "and you are just as beautiful today as you were when we first met."

A smile spread across Emily's face at Cook's words. "And you," She said, plucking Cook's hands from her chest, turning around and wrapping her arms around his neck, "are just as horny as when we first met."

"You're one to talk." Cook said, leaning in for a kiss.

"Mm, thanks." Emily said, pecking him quickly on the lips before pulling away and pull a t-shirt out of the wardrobe and slipping it over her head. "Now go make me some dinner. Naomi will be here in an hour."

"I love it when you're bossy." Cook said, giving Emily's bum a quick squeeze before quickly exiting the room, a huge grin on his face.

Emily pulled on a pair of jeans and a cardigan and followed Cook downstairs to tidy up the apartment before Naomi arrived.

At five past seven she heard the buzz of the intercom, indicating that Naomi was downstairs. Emily pressed the intercom button and spoke in to the speaker.

"Hey, c'mon up. Twelfth floor. Apartment 37." Emily said, pressing the button to unlock the front door to the building.

"Thanks." She heard Naomi's voice say through the intercom.

A few minutes later Emily heard a knock at the door. "Cook, she's here." Emily called to Cook as she walked from the lounge room, down the hallway to the front door. Cook came out of the kitchen and followed Emily to the door. Emily opened the door to find the blonde standing there shyly. She, like Emily, was wearing jeans and a t-shirt with a jacket. She had a bag slung over one shoulder and a 6-pack of beer in the other hand.

"Naomi, hi! C'mon in." Emily said, holding the door open for her. "This is James Cook, my boyfriend. Cook, this is Naomi."

"Naomi, good to meet you." Cook said, holding out his hand for Naomi.

Naomi took his hand and shook it, smiling her empty smile at Cook. "Good to meet you too." She said. "I wasn't sure what you drink so I just brought some beer." Naomi said, holding up the 6-pack of Coronas.

"Beer's great. Thanks very much. Do you want to go through to the lounge room?" Emily said, taking the drinks from Naomi and pointing to the room off the hallway. "I'll just chuck these in the fridge and I'll be in there in a sec."

"Sure, thanks." Naomi said, wandering in to the lounge room.

Emily turned to look at Cook, who was watching Naomi walk away from them.

"Ahem." She cleared her throat, getting Cook's attention. He looked at her unashamedly and held his hands in front of his chest.

"Nice tits." He mouthed at Emily.

"Jerk" Emily said, thumping him in the stomach and walking in to the kitchen.

"Nothing on you, of course." Cook added, following after her.

Emily pulled two beers from the pack, put the last four in the fridge and walked in to the lounge room where she found Naomi standing in front of the fire place looking at photos. Emily walked over to her and passed her one of the beers.

"Thanks." Naomi said, taking the beer and having a sip. "Gotta say, I didn't expect to come to my new boss' house and find a photo of my eight-year-old self sitting on her mantelpiece." Naomi said, nodding to the photo of herself, Emily and Katie.

Emily laughed. "That sounds really creepy when you put it like that." She said. "I found it at Mum and Dad's a couple of weeks ago."

"I remember that day." Naomi said, a slight smile on her lips. "It was fun. It's actually one of the last happy memories I have of my Dad."

Emily turned to look at Naomi, surprised that she mentioned that when she had been so closed off earlier that day.

"Do you ever see him?" Emily asked, taking the chance to try and get some information out of Naomi about what her life is like.

"No. I haven't seen or heard from him since he left." Naomi said sadly. "I don't know if he still lives in Bristol or not. He could be married with kids now. I have no idea. He could be dead for all I know."

Emily looked at Naomi, noticing the emptiness in her eyes. "I'm sorry." She said.

Naomi gave a brave little smile and shook her head. "Nothing for you to be sorry about." She said. "Is that Katie?" She asked, pointing to the photo of Katie, Ben, Zack and Mia.

"Yeah. That's Katie and her husband, Ben, and their kids, Zack and Mia." Emily said, glad for the change of subject but disappointed that she didn't get to learn more about Naomi's life.

"Wow. Married with kids. She's doing well for herself then."

"Yeah. She's got another one on the way, too." Emily said.

"Wow. Tell her I said hi and congratulations."

"Thanks, I will."

"Do you see her often?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, once or twice a week normally. We're pretty close."

"That's nice. How's James? And your parents?"

"They're all good. Hey we all go over to my parent's house on Sundays for lunch, if you'd like to join us this weekend? Me and Cook will be there. And you can see Katie again and meet Ben and everyone."

"Yeah, I'd like that." Naomi said, looking at Emily and smiling. Emily noticed that the emptiness in her eyes had disappeared. It seemed to do that a lot.

Cook walked in to the room and through to the dining room, placing three bowls of pasta on the table. "Dinner is served, ladies." He said, setting out cutlery for each of them.

"Thanks hun. Looks great." Emily said, walking over to the rectangular table and taking a seat, Naomi following her.

The three sat at the table, eating their food in silence for a few minutes before Naomi spoke up. "Thanks very much for having me over tonight. Definitely beats the fish and chips I would have had sitting alone in my hotel room."

"No worries, glad to have you." Emily said.

"So Naomi, tell me about yourself." Cook said.

"What do you want to know?" Naomi asked, taking a sip of her beer.

"Got any siblings?" Cook asked.

"Nope. Only child. You?"

"Little brother. Paddy. He's 14. Favourite colour?"

"Gray."

"Gray's not a colour." Emily pointed out.

"Fine. I don't have a favourite colour. But gray is my favourite shade." Naomi said smartly. "What's yours?"

"Green." Said Cook.

"Black." Said Emily.

Naomi raised an eyebrow at her.

"What? If you get to pick a shade, so do I."

"Favourite TV show?" Naomi asked.

"Friends." Emily answered.

"Mr. Bean."

Naomi looked at Cook. "Your favourite TV show is Mr. Bean?"

"Yep."

"He has all the DVD's." Emily says. "And he watches it almost every day. And he laughs at everything before it happens because he has watched them so many times he knows exactly what's about to happen."

"Wow. That's lame." Naomi said, shaking her head at Cook, though she had a smile on her face.

"Fine then, what's your favourite show?" Cook asked defensively. He knew Naomi was just mucking around though.

"Don't have one."

"Well what shows do you like?" Cook asked.

"None. I don't watch TV."

"At all?"

"No, not ever."

"Not even like the news or the weather report?"

"Nope."

"But aren't you like a journalist or something? Shouldn't you be keeping up to date with all that stuff?"

"I read it all in the paper. Besides, as a journalist, I generally know all the news before it gets on the telly anyway."

"And you call me lame…" Cook said, causing Naomi to laugh. "What's your favourite band then? Or do you not listen to music either?"

"Of course I listen to music. But that question's too hard. It's impossible to pick a favourite."

"Okay, I'll make it easier then. Favourite era of music."

"Easy. 80's."

Cook scoffed when he heard Naomi's answer.

"What? What's wrong with the 80's?" Naomi asked indignantly.

"Nothing. Apart from it being total shit, there's nothing wrong with it."

"Yeah? What do you like then? No wait let me guess. The 60's?"

"Got it in one." Cook said proudly.

Naomi shook her head.

"What's wrong with the 60's?" Cook asked.

"Nothing, apart from it being total shit." Naomi said, mimicking Cook's earlier comment.

"Shit? You think The Beatles are shit? The Mama's and The Papa's? Simon and Garfunkel? Bob Dylan? The 60's were the start of Elton John and Cat Stevens."

"Yeah, and they're about the only six decent musicians that came out of the 60's."

"Well the 80's is pretty much all just pop crap. The 60's had rock 'n' roll, folk, pop, R&B. Everything. And the lyrics were actually good."

"The lyrics don't make sense. It was all written when they were high." Naomi argued.

"You can't tell me that '_take on me, take me on'_ even comes close to _'Hey Jude, don't make it bad, take a sad song and make it better'_." Cook said.

"No, you can't compare those, because they are completely diff-"

"I like Passion Pit." Emily said, cutting off Cook and Naomi's argument.

They both turned to look at her.

"Yeah, Passion Pit is good." Naomi agreed.

"Yeah, they are." Said Cook.

"Good. Now that we've have agreed on that, shall we go on to the next question?" Emily said.

"Sure. What's you favourite movie?" Naomi asked Emily.

"Aladdin." Emily answered.

"That's still your favourite movie?" Naomi asked. "You used to make me watch that with you at least once a week."

"Yeah, well it's a brilliant movie."

"Indeed it is." Naomi agreed.

"What's your favourite movie?" Cook asked Naomi.

"High Society. It's this old movie from the 50's with Grace Kelly, Frank Sinatra, Bing Crosby and Louis Armstro-"

"Yeah, I know what High Society is." Cook said, cutting Naomi off. "That is one of my all time favourite movies."

Naomi narrowed her eyebrows at Cook. "Are you gay?" she asked. Emily cracked up laughing. Cook opened his mouth in shock.

"No!"

"You like 50's musicals about love triangles and you like Elton John. I'd be keeping an eye on this one if I were you, Emily." She said to Emily who was still shaking from laughter in her seat.

"I'm not gay! I just have an appreciation for good music and film." Cook said.

Half an hour later Emily, Cook and Naomi were sitting on the couches in the lounge room, nursing another beer each. Cook and Naomi had been discussing movies that they loved and hated, surprisingly agreeing with each other on almost everything. Emily sat in boredom, half listening to the conversation, half thinking about what she had to do at work the next day. It's not that she didn't like movies; she loved them. And it's not like she had that different taste to the other two. They all loved Mary Poppins and Forrest Gump. They all liked Pirates of the Caribbean and Pearl Harbor. They all hated Twilight and The Notebook. But Emily just didn't care. She would rather be learning about more important things about Naomi.

"Charlie and the Chocolate Factory!" Cook exclaimed excitedly, remembering another of his favourite movies.

"Yes! But only the original one." Naomi said.

"Definitely. The musical one is so much better. And Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka is so much better than Johnny Depp."

"I know! The newer one is shit. I normally love Johnny Depp, but him as Willy Wonka is way too freaky. That movie should be classed as a horror movie, not a children's movie."

"Jesus, maybe you two should be together, not me and Cook." Emily said jokingly, beginning to get slightly annoyed about the large number of ridiculous things her boyfriend and childhood friend were bonding over. She was glad they got along, but she hadn't been expecting this from the girl that had been so closed off earlier.

"Yeah, sure. I'm sure we'd make a great couple if he was female." Naomi said.

Emily's and Cook's eyes shot up to Naomi how looked shocked at herself. Like she hadn't meant to say that.

"Huh? Are you… Are you…?" Emily stuttered out, not quite sure of the best way to ask.

"Yes. I'm gay. Okay?"

"Ha, brilliant." Cook said. It didn't take a genius to know what images were going through his mind. Naomi raised an eyebrow at him, letting him know that she knew what he was thinking and that it was never going to happen. Cook attempted, unsuccessfully, to look innocent.

Naomi looked over to Emily, who was just sitting with an unreadable expression on her face.

"Em?" Naomi said quietly.

Emily's eyes jerked up to Naomi's. "Hmm?"

"Is this going to be a problem?"

"No. No, of course not." Emily said, slightly unconvincingly.

"Are you sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. Why would it be a problem?"

"Some people just have a problem with it. Believe me, you're not the first homophobe I've met."

"What? No! I'm not homophobic!" Emily said defensively.

"It's okay, Emily, it doesn't matter."

"Time for dessert?" Cook suggested, standing up and heading toward the kitchen.

"Actually, I think I'm just going to head off. It's been a long day and I need to be up early in the morning." Naomi said, standing up and putting her jacket on.

"Are you sure? You can take tomorrow off if you want to."

"No, it's fine. I'll see you in the morning." Naomi said, picking up her beg and heading out toward the entrance hall. "Thanks for a good night, Cook."

Emily stood up and followed Naomi out of the room to the front door.

"Naomi, I'm sorry, okay? I didn't mean to react badly; you just took me by surprise, that's all."

"Emily, I don't care. It's okay if you're a bit uncomfortable with it. Most people are." Naomi said.

"I'm not uncomfortable with it!" Emily said, taking a step toward Naomi and pulling her in to a hug. "See? Not uncomfortable. If I were uncomfortable with it I wouldn't be hugging you. I'd be too scared that I was turning you on or something."

Naomi let out a little laugh and hugged Emily back lightly. "Okay. You're not uncomfortable with it. You just have really bad reactions."

"Right. Do you want me to call you a car or something?"

"No, that's fine. I'll just get a taxi."

"Taxi's don't come around here very often. You won't be able to find one."

"That's okay. If I don't find one I'll just walk."

"No way! It'll take you like 45 minutes to walk back to your hotel. And it's dark out. I'm calling the car."

"No, Emily, it's fine. Really. You've done enough for me."

"Fine." Emily said. "I'll drive you home myself."

"Seriously, Emily, it's fine. I don't mind walking."

"Nope. You don't have a choice." Emily said, grabbing her keys off the table and calling out to Cook that she was driving Naomi home. "C'mon then, lets go." Emily said to Naomi, leading her out of the apartment and taking the lift down to the underground car park.

15 minutes later, Emily pulled up out the front of Naomi's hotel. The drive had been slightly awkward, neither really sure what to say to each other.

"Okay, I'll see you in the morning then." Emily said.

"Yeah, see you. And thanks for dinner and the ride and everything."

Another 15 minutes later and Emily was back in her apartment, joining Cook in the bedroom and getting changed for bed.

"That was an interesting night." Cook said.

"Yeah." Emily agreed.

"Naomi's really nice."

"Yeah, she is."

"Seems to change her mood a lot though." Cook said. "One minute she's happy and laughing and the next she's cold, closed off and defensive, with no warning."

"Yeah, that's what she was like earlier today as well. Never know how she's going to react to something."

* * *

Meanwhile, back in her hotel room, Naomi was sitting on the edge of her bed, thinking back over her day. She had definitely been surprised to discover that Emily would be her knew boss. If she was being honest with herself, she wasn't sure she was entirely happy with it. Not because Emily was her boss; that didn't bother her. It was just that she would have to spend time with Emily. That Emily seemed to want to spend time with her. When she was told that she would be going to Bristol for an interview, her first thought was '_I wonder if I'll run in to any of the Fitches'_.

She had never imagined that the interview would be with her former best friend. Her _only_ best friend. The only real friend she'd ever had.

Naomi didn't do friends. She had always preferred to be by herself. Well, ever since she moved to Manchester she had preferred to be by herself. Before the move she had loved having friends. Loved _being_ someone's friend. She loved having someone to play with and someone to talk to. She loved having people that were like family to her. People that were there for her when her own family wasn't.

Now she hated family. She hated the whole idea of it. Because she knew it wasn't true. There was no such thing as love. She had believed in love when she was a kid. But then she had grown up. She had realised there was no such thing. People just use you. There is no such thing as selfless love. Only selfish love. And that just hurts people. It abandons you when you aren't good enough. It leaves you when you need them most. It uses you when you are vulnerable.

At least that's what had happened to Naomi. She had been hurt over and over again until she finally just closed herself off from the world. She stopped going to parties; stopped talking to the kids at school, until eventually none of them even knew who she was. She made it through college and university, always top of every class because she had no friends or social life to distract her. She had her pick of jobs when she graduated. She worked her way up through different companies, getting promotion after promotion because working was the only thing that kept her sane.

And now Emily had wormed her way back in. Okay, maybe _wormed_ is a bit inaccurate. It had just been a chance meeting. But that didn't matter. What mattered is that Emily was back in her life. And she was friendly, and she talked to her like a person, not just an employee.

She made her feel something.

She made her feel happier. Less alone. Less lonely.

She made the emptiness that had consumed her for so long disappear slightly.

And Naomi was glad for it. For the first time in years she was feeling something that was good. She appreciated it. She appreciated Emily for making her feel like that. She appreciated Cook for it too.

But mostly Emily.

Emily had been friendly and welcoming. She had made Naomi feel like an actual person again. A person with feelings and emotions. A person that deserved to be loved and valued, like anyone else.

_Yes_, Naomi thought, _Emily had been wonderful. _She had been nice and loving and considerate and easy to get along with. She had introduced her to Cook. She had gone out of her way to make sure Naomi got home safely. She had arranged to pay for Naomi's hotel bill and offered to help her find somewhere to live permanently. She had been interested in getting to know Naomi again, without prying too much in to her personal life. And she was pretty.

No. Not pretty.

Beautiful.

She was definitely beautiful.

Naomi hadn't been able to stop staring at Emily's lovely long bright red hair all evening. It suited her perfectly. And those eyes. Every time Naomi looked her in those large brown eyes she felt like she was going to lose herself. Like she was going to drown in them. Like she could just sit for the rest of her life staring in to them and she would consider it a good use of her time.

As much as she hated the idea of family, and despite the fact that she didn't believe in love, and forgetting that she didn't let herself get close to people, or let people get close to her, she couldn't help but want to spend more time with Emily. Couldn't help looking forward to seeing her at work the next morning. Couldn't stop herself from looking forward to spending time with Emily outside of work on the weekend when they visited her parents.

Couldn't stop herself from liking Emily.

Like actually _liking_ Emily.

The realisation of this shocked Naomi. She doesn't get feelings like this. No one makes her feel like this. She doesn't _let_ herself feel things like this. Not since- _No!_ Naomi stopped herself. _Don't let yourself think about that,_ Naomi told herself. _It will just make you feel worse._

Forcing herself to think about something different, she dragged herself in to the bathroom and washed her face and changed in to her pyjamas. She climbed in to the bed and pulled the covers up to her chin.

As she lay in the dark, she couldn't stop her thoughts from drifting back to Emily. Couldn't stop herself looking forward to seeing her at work the next morning. She eventually drifted off to sleep, thoughts of Emily still on her mind, a smile on her lips. And for the first time in years, she slept through the entire night, not batting an eyelid until the alarm clock woke her up eight hours later.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed. Review if you get a chance :)**


	5. Chapter 4

**Another chapter up in just over 24 hours. Aren't you lucky ;) This is what happens when I'm procrastinating...**

**You learn a bit more about Naomi's past in this chapter. It was quite a tough chapter to write. Hope it doesn't disappoint.**

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* * *

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**Chapter 4:**

**.**

"Naomi, chill out, it will be fine." Emily assured Naomi as they climbed the front steps to Rob and Jenna Fitch's mansion.

"I just feel really out of place, that's all. Like I'm intruding."

"Don't. Mum and Dad were ridiculously excited when I told them that you were coming. So was Katie."

"You didn't tell me that they lived in a mansion, Emily." Naomi said as they reached the door.

"Yeah, well it's not really the kind of thing you just go around telling people." Emily said, opening the door and stepping in to the large entrance hall, calling out to her parents as they walked inside, letting them know that they had arrived.

Jenna Fitch came out of the kitchen, wiping her hands on her apron, smiling broadly at the three standing in front of her.

"Emsy, love. How are you?" Jenna asked her daughter, giving her a big hug and acting as though they hadn't seen each other in a year, even though it had only been two weeks.

"I'm good. How are you?" Emily replied breathlessly, having had all the air squeezed out of her by her mother.

"Fine thanks." Jenna replied. "James, how are you?" She asked, giving Cook a hug. "Have you proposed to my daughter yet?"

"Mum!" Emily exclaimed at her mother.

"What? I'm just curious."

"Don't you think I would have called you if we got engaged? And stop putting pressure on us."

"Sorry. I just haven't seen you for so long, I wanted to make sure I hadn't missed anything."

"Mum, it's only been two weeks since I saw you. And I spoke to you on Wednesday."

"Jenna, I believe you remember Naomi?" Cook said, stepping between Emily and her mother, stopping an argument before it could even begin and giving Naomi a nudge forward.

"Naomi! Of course, so good to see you again!" Jenna said, placing her hands on Naomi's shoulders and giving her a peck on the cheek.

"Good to see you, too, Mrs Fitch." Naomi replied shyly.

"Oh call me Jenna, love. You're much too grown up to be calling me Mrs Fitch still." Jenna said, leading the others through the house back in to the kitchen. "Come and see Rob and the others. They're all excited to see you again."

Emily, Cook and Naomi walked in to the kitchen just as Rob Fitch walked in through the door that led outside to the patio. "Hey kids!" He said when he saw them. "How are we all today?" he asked, pecking Emily on the cheek and shaking Cook's hand.

"Good thanks." Emily replied. "Dad, you remember Naomi. Naomi, my Dad, Rob." She introduced.

"Naomi. Great to see you again love." Rob said, giving Naomi a quick hug, which she reciprocated. "How have you been?"

"Fine thanks. You?"

"Yeah, great. Just great."

"I hear you've done pretty well for yourself with your gym. I guess running good business' runs in the family." Naomi said, with a glance at Emily.

"Yeah, got a couple of gyms open now. I'd like to think that Emily got her impressive entrepreneur skills from me, but to be honest, I think she's taught me more than I've taught her." Rob said, winking at Emily.

"She certainly does run an impressive company." Naomi said.

"I take it you're enjoying working for her then?" Rob asked.

"Yes, very much. She's an excellent boss." Naomi replied.

"Yeah, don't speak too soon. You've only been here a week." Emily said. "Is Katie here yet?"

"Yes, they're all out the back. We thought we'd have a barbeque since it's such a lovely day outside today."

Emily led Naomi out the back to where Katie was sitting, stomach bulging, on one of the chairs to the outdoor setting, digging in to a plate of crackers, dips and cheeses. Ben was pushing Mia on the kiddy swing set in the yard and Zack was kicking his football up against the wall.

"Hey Katiekins." Cook said, rushing right past her and running over to Zack and stealing the ball off him. "C'mon Zacky." He said, "Show me what you learned at football training this week."

Emily smiled as her nephew attempted to steal the ball back from Cook, who was showing off his ball tricks. She walked over to Katie and kissed her on the cheek and patted her big belly. "Hey Katie. Hey baby." She said.

"Hey Ems." Katie replied, before glancing behind Emily and spotting Naomi. "Naomi!" Katie exclaimed, struggling to get to her feet, pulling herself up on Emily's arm. She waddled over to Naomi and threw her arms around her neck, jerking Naomi down suddenly. Naomi gave Emily a frightened look over Katie's shoulder.

"Katie, don't freak the poor girl out." Emily said. "Give her a bit of space to breathe."

"Sorry if I'm excited to see my oldest friend for the first time in 15 years, Emily."

"You could control yourself slightly." Emily said, wandering over to the bar fridge that stood next to the barbeque and getting out a couple of beers for her and Naomi and a can of lemonade for Katie.

"I'm pregnant. I have no control over my emotions or my actions." Katie defended, taking the can that Emily passed her and sitting down again.

Emily passed Naomi a beer and they both took seats at the table. Having spent a good part of each day at work together for the past week, as well as having lunch together most days, and Naomi coming over to Emily and Cook's place for dinner again on Thursday night, the two had got to know each other quite well. Mostly surface level stuff, but still… It was definitely an improvement on Monday. Naomi, while still being quite closed off, had warmed up a lot to Emily. She smiled a bit more often. Her eyes seemed less empty. She laughed when people made jokes and she was getting along great with Effy and Freddie.

"So Katie, pumped for Berlin?" Emily asked her.

"Yes, extremely excited." Katie said. "You booked everything?"

"Yep. Double-checked everything this morning. Your flight is Thursday at three pm, so I'll take the afternoon off work. If you and Ben come to my place around midday, you can leave Mia at home with Cook and I'll take you to the airport. Or vice versa. And then one of us will pick up Zack from school. Then your flight home is the following Thursday at 11am. But I've got all the details for all your flights and the hotel written down at home. I'll give it to you when I see you next."

"Great. Thanks so much for this, Emily. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome. I'm looking forward to having Zack and Mia for the week."

"Yeah, give it a couple of days. I reckon after Saturday you'll be hanging out for us to get home." Katie said.

An hour later everyone was sitting around the big table digging in to a delicious barbeque lunch. Rob at one end, Jenna at the other with Mia on her lap. Ben, Cook, Naomi and Emily on one side, Katie, Zack, James and, to everyone else's disgrace, James' best friend, Gordon, on the other side.

Everyone was making small talk, telling each other about their weeks, what they had planned for the week ahead, how work, uni and school was going. Except James and Gordon. They had been making comments to each other under their breath so no one else could hear them and staring at Naomi the entire time. Or, more specifically, staring at Naomi's chest.

At one stage during the meal, Jenna turned to Naomi. "So, Naomi, are you married?" She asked.

"No, I'm not married." Naomi answered politely.

"Boyfriend?" Jenna asked.

"Um, no. I um. I'm…" She looked at Emily, unsure how to answer the question.

"Naomi's gay, Mum." Emily answered for her, knowing that Naomi had no problems about being gay and wouldn't mind who knew. Naomi looked at Jenna, worried about how she might react.

"Oh sorry love, I didn't know." Jenna said. "Do you have a girlfriend then?"

Naomi breathed a sigh of relief, glad that no one seemed to mind. "No, I don't have a girlfriend." She answered.

Emily glanced across the table to see James and Gordon staring at Naomi with their mouths open. _What is it with guys and their lesbian fantasies?_ She though to herself, kicking both James and Gordon under the table.

The small talk continued for the rest of the meal, until James and Gordon disappeared around the side of the house to the other part of the yard. Rob, Ben, Cook and Zack started up a mini game of football in the yard. Emily, Naomi, Katie and Jenna, with a fast-asleep Mia in her arms moved over to the deck chairs to watch the lads playing.

"Naomi, how is your mum doing?" Jenna asked.

"Uh, she actually passed away. When I was 11." Naomi said quietly.

Emily, Jenna and Katie all turned to look at her, shock all over their faces.

Right at that moment, James and Gordon stepped out from the side of the building, huge water pistols in their hands. They aimed and shot, drenching both Emily and Naomi to the bone. Emily jumped to her feet and stormed over to James before he had a chance to move. She grabbed him by the ear and pulled hard. "James Fitch, you little worm!" She said, giving him a kick in the shins, causing him to cry out in pain.

Rob came running over to where Emily and James stood. "Emily, let go of him." He said. Emily let go. "Get inside, boy." Rob said, taking the water pistol from his son and dumping it on the ground. "You're almost 18, not eight! 20 reps on the naughty bar for you!"

"Why, why, why?" James whinged.

"Now! And proper extensions!" Rob ordered. James slouched inside the house, Gordon following after him, laughing that James was still punished with the naughty bar.

Emily turned back to Naomi, who had risen from her seat and was brushing her wet hair out of her eyes. Her white tank top had turned see-through so that her black bra was clearly visible through it, which had clearly been James and Gordon's plan.

"Emily, there are still some of your old clothes in your old room. Why don't you and Naomi go on upstairs and get dry and changed. There's bound to be something there that will fit Naomi." Jenna suggested.

Emily led Naomi through the house and upstairs, punching James in the stomach while he was in the middle of a rep on the naughty bar on their way past. Emily opened the door to her old room and walked inside, Naomi following her.

"Jesus Christ." Naomi said, closing the door behind her and looking around. "This is your old room?"

"Yeah. Me and Katie used to share it, but after college she decided we were too old for that and she moved in to one of the spare rooms." Emily explained, walking to the wardrobe and looking through her old clothes that she had decided not to bother taking with her when she moved out after uni.

"Fucking hell. My bedroom growing up was about an eighth of the size of this room." Naomi said.

Emily turned to look at her. Besides mentioning that her Mum had died, that was the first comment Naomi had made about her life in Manchester. Naomi was facing the opposite way, looking at the posters that covered Emily's wall, but Emily could tell from the way her shoulders slouched that she wouldn't have had a very happy look on her face.

Emily turned back to the wardrobe and found a t-shirt that had always been too big for her. She pulled it out and passed it to Naomi. "That should fit. There are towels in the bathroom if you want to dry off a bit." She said, pointing to the ensuite bathroom.

"You have your own bathroom?" Naomi asked.

"Well… Yeah…" Emily said, slightly embarrassed.

Naomi disappeared in to the bathroom and Emily found a t-shirt for herself. She pulled off the wet one and patted herself dry as best she could, annoyed with herself for not thinking of getting a towel out of the bathroom before Naomi locked the door. When she was dry enough, she pulled on the dry shirt and pulled a brush through her wet hair. Naomi came back out a minute later, looking considerably less waterlogged.

"I just left my wet shirt over the tub. Is that okay?" Naomi asked, taking the brush that Emily had used and brushing her own hair with it.

"Yeah, that's good." Emily said. She walked in to the bathroom and wrung her shirt out, placing it over the edge of the bathtub with Naomi's.

When she re-entered the bedroom she found Naomi sitting on the edge of her bed, a sad look on her face. Emily went and sat next to her, close but not quite touching. She placed her hand on Naomi's knee. "I'm sorry about your mum." She said. Naomi nodded, not saying anything. Emily was debating whether or not to ask more about it when Naomi spoke up voluntarily.

"It was cancer. She was diagnosed when I was ten. She died six months later."

"That's horrible." Emily said, not really knowing what else to say. "I really am sorry. I wish there was more I could say."

"You don't need to say anything." Naomi said, resting her head on Emily's shoulder.

Emily was surprised at Naomi's actions. For the past week she had avoided being getting too close to anyone, always taking a step back whenever anyone got to close. Deciding to embrace it, Emily reached an arm behind Naomi and wrapped her arm around her shoulder.

"Who looked after you after she died?" Emily asked quietly.

"My uncle. Uncle Victor."

"Is he the one that lived in Manchester? The one that you moved there to be close to?"

"Yeah, that's the one." Naomi said.

The two sat on the bed for a few minutes longer, neither of them saying anything.

"Do you want to go home?" Emily asked Naomi after a bit.

"It's okay." Naomi said, "I don't want to ruin you afternoon with your family."

"You won't be ruining it. If you want me to take you home now I'm more than happy to." Emily assured her.

"Okay." Naomi said after a moment. "That would be good."

"Righto. I'll just go get Cook and say goodbye to the family." Emily said, walking in to the bathroom and gathering their wet shirts. "You can come if you want to, otherwise you can just go wait in the car."

"No, I'll come. I want to thank your parents and say goodbye to Katie." Naomi said, standing up and following Emily out of the bedroom.

* * *

A few days later, Thursday, 11:30am, to be precise, Emily was packing up her desk and getting ready to go home. The week had gone fairly smoothly after lunch with the Fitch's on Sunday. Jenna and Rob had both apologised profusely for their son's behaviour and given both Emily and Naomi a hug goodbye. Emily and Cook had dropped Naomi back at her hotel with the offer for her to call them if she needed anything. The next day at work, Naomi had acted like nothing had happened, which was pretty much what Emily had expected. Emily hadn't brought it up either, figuring that if Naomi wanted to talk, she could come to her.

"You sure you'll be right here by yourself for a week?" Emily asked JJ as she gathered her things.

"Yeah, I'll be fine. Effy and Freddie are there to help if I need anything. And Naomi seems to be doing a great job so far, I'm sure we'll be fine."

"Okay. Well give me a call if you need me for anything and I'm sure I'll be able to work something out and come in for a bit."

"That won't be necessary, but thanks anyway. Tell Katie and Ben to have a good time away. And you have fun with Zack and Mia. Feel free to call me or Lara if you need anything or want a break from the kids for a few hours."

"Thanks, Jay." Emily said, heading out of the office. "I'll see you next Friday. Or possibly before then."

Emily left the office and stopped at Pandora's desk. "Hey, I'm off Panda. I'll see you in a week."

"Righto Emsy! Hope you have a whizzer week!" Panda said excitedly.

"Yeah, I will. You too. Make sure you take a bit of a break, yeah? And don't forget to call Naomi's hotel to pay the bill and let them know she'll be staying for another week or two."

"Sure thing Ems! See ya!"

"Bye Panda."

Emily got the lift down to the ground level and began the short walk home, arriving at the apartment block the same time as Katie, Ben and Mia climbed out of a taxi out the front, laden with suitcases and bags for Zack and Mia. Emily took some bags from Katie and they went upstairs to the apartment. Katie told Emily everything she would need to know for the week ahead – what times Mia takes a nap, what time Zack needed to be taken to and picked up from school, reminding her that Zack was allergic to peanuts and that Mia should be in bed by 7:30pm, Zack by 8pm. Except on weekends, when they were allowed to stay up a little bit later and watch a DVD. Emily already knew it all, but listened patiently to Katie, knowing that she was feeling a bit apprehensive about leaving her babies for a week and that going over everything with Emily would make her feel a bit more comfortable.

Two and a half hours later, after hugging Katie and Ben goodbye at the customs gate at the airport, Emily was on her way home, planning on picking Zack up from school on the way. After that, she would go home, and her and Cook were planning on taking Zack and Mia to the playground for a while, before ordering pizza for dinner.

After driving for a few minutes, she heard her phone begin to ring. She picked it up and saw that it was Panda calling from the office. "Hey Panda, what's up?" She said, answering the phone.

"Hey Emsy! I hate to bother you, but do you have a second?"

"Yeah, sure. I'm just driving though, let me pull over so I can talk to you properly."

Emily steered the car down a side street and stopped the car, putting the phone to her ear so she could hear properly. "Right, what's up?"

"Well I called Naomi's hotel to pay the bill and extend her stay, but the man there said that she wasn't staying there any more."

"What? That's weird. I've been working with her all week, she didn't say that she had found a flat yet."

"Yeah, so I went and talked to her and she said that she isn't staying at the hotel anymore. She's staying at some caravan park now instead."

"What? Why is she staying at a caravan park?"

"I'm not sure. She didn't seem to want to talk about it. But she said what one it is and I looked up the number for it. Do you want me to call them and pay the bill for there instead?"

"No. No, don't do anything yet. Just give me the details of the place and I'll see what's going on. Is Naomi still at the office, or has she left already?"

"She just left about an hour ago. She said you told her she could take the afternoon off, since you wouldn't be there to work with her anyway."

"Yeah, that's right."

Emily got the details of the caravan park off of Panda and thanked her for letting her know. She put the car into gear and pulled back on to the main road, dialling Cook's number as she went.

"Hey babe." Came Cook's voice over the phone.

"Hey Cook. Listen, I just got a weird phone call from Panda, something weird is going on with Naomi. She's not staying at the hotel anymore for some reason."

"Huh. That's weird. Did she tell you that she was moving?"

"No, that's why it's weird. So I'm going to go and see her now, see what's going on. Would you mind taking Mia with you and picking up Zack from school for me? If you want, you can still take them to the park. I'll either meet you there or see you back home." Emily said.

"Yeah, no worries. We'll leave in a minute."

"Thanks babe. I appreciate it."

"All good. Hope things go well with Naomi. Let me know if there's anything else you need."

"Thanks Cook. Love you. Tell Zack I said sorry I couldn't be there to pick him up."

"Will do. Love you too."

Emily hung up her phone and put the address of the caravan park that Panda had given her in to her GPS. When she arrived at the daggy caravan park, she parked the car, being sure to lock the doors and headed in to the reception building. She asked the man behind the desk where Naomi was staying and he told her that she was staying in cabin seven, one the west side of the park.

Emily made her way to cabin seven and knocked on the dirty door. She heard a thud from inside, followed by someone cursing, before Naomi swung the door open, bottle of vodka in one hand, spliff in the other.

"Emily!" Naomi said excitedly, clearly off her face. "Welcome to the house of fun!" She said, spreading out her arms and welcoming Emily inside.

Emily stepped up in to the cabin and plucked the spliff from between Naomi's fingers. "What the fuck is this, Naomi?" She asked, holding up the spliff and gesturing to the half-drunk bottle of vodka. "It's only half three in the afternoon."

"What the fuck do you care?" Naomi said, taking the spliff back and taking a long drag.

"I care because I know that something's wrong. And you're doing nothing to fix it." Emily said, snatching the spliff back once again and putting it out in an ashtray that sat on the tiny square dining table in the corner of the room. "Ever since you've been back here you've been closed off and distant. I know you've clearly been through some shit in the past, and I know it's not my place to make you tell me about it, or to try and fix things, but I won't just sit there and watch you self destruct."

"It's vodka and a bit of weed, Emily. Hardly considered self destruction." Naomi said, plopping herself down on the dusty old couch.

Emily took a look around the cabin. It was only one room. A low single bed sat in the far corner, which was only a couple of metres away. The sheets looked like they hadn't been changed for years. An old couch with the stuffing hanging out, where Naomi was now sitting, was up against the wall, facing nothing. There was a tiny bar fridge against the opposite wall, a small kitchen bench with a sink was next to it. The door of the cabinet under the bench was hanging on by one hinge. The little dining table in the corner had two rickety looking chairs up to it. Emily noticed that the table was being held level by a folded piece of cardboard that had been placed under one of the table legs. The one window in the cabin was so covered with dirt you could hardly see out. The whole place smelt of weed and mould. There was no bathroom.

"Naomi, how long have you been staying here?" Emily asked.

"Couple of days." Naomi slurred.

"Why did you come here? Why didn't you just stay at the hotel?"

"Couldn't stay there forever, could I?"

"You could have stayed there a while longer though, until you could find your own flat. Why didn't you?"

"I can't keep letting the company… _your company_… pay for my hotel bill. And I can't afford to pay it myself. So I figured I'd stay here for a while, until I find my own place." Naomi said, taking a large swig of vodka.

"Naomi, JJ and I both agreed that we were happy to pay the hotel bill until you could find a house. It's not like it's coming out of our own pay. Just company expenses."

Naomi didn't say anything, just took another drink of vodka. Emily went and sat down on the sofa next to her.

"Naomi, what's going on?" She asked. She knew it wasn't her place to ask; wasn't any of her business; could possibly be overstepping the boundaries between boss and employee. But she didn't care. She forgot that she was supposed to be spending time with her boyfriend, niece and nephew. Forgot that she was on holidays and wasn't supposed to be doing any work-related things. All that mattered to her at that moment was understanding what was going on with Naomi.

She looked at Naomi, waiting for an answer. Naomi just shook her head.

"No, seriously Naomi, what's going on? Am I working you too hard? Are you regretting coming here? Do you not like your job? Do you not like spending time with me?"

"No, it's got nothing to do with that." Naomi said, "It's got nothing to do with you."

"Well what is it then?"

"It's nothing."

Emily wasn't willing to give up so easily though. "Is this about your Mum?" Emily asked.

Naomi jumped to her feet angrily. "No! It's not about my Mum! It's not about you! It's not about work!"

"Well then what the fuck is it, Naomi?" Emily asked, starting to get angry herself, even though she had no right to. She had no right to come to Naomi's unannounced. Had no right to pry in to her personal life. None of that mattered to Emily though. "Why won't you just talk to me?"

"Because it's none of you fucking business, that's why!" Naomi said loudly. She looked over at Emily and noticed that she looked like she was about to cry. "Look, Emily," She said a bit more calmly, "I've been through a lot of shit in my past. Stuff that you can't even begin to imagine. You have no idea what my life has been like. You, growing up in the perfect family, in your perfect mansion, then getting a perfect job, perfect boyfriend, perfect house. You come here, trying to be my friend, acting like you still know me. You know nothing about me!" Naomi said, getting angry again. "You don't know what it was like to be moved away from everything you know. To have no friends and to be teased every single day at school. To be abandoned by one of the people that is supposed to love you more than anyone else, and then to have the other one leave you as well." Naomi shouted, her voice shaking, the large amount of vodka in her system playing a part in the way she was acting.

"You don't know what it's like to have no one left that loves you. You don't know what it's like to have nobody in college know your name. You don't know what it's like to be treated like shit every fucking day of your life. You don't know what it's like to live your life when there isn't anything to live for. You don't know how it feels to know that if you died, no one would even care, or notice. You haven't lived most of your life wishing that you were dead, because at least if you were dead, you wouldn't have to feel the pain that I feel every single day!" Naomi shouted, slamming the bottle of vodka down on the table and turning her back on Emily, who was sitting on the sofa in tears.

Silence filled the cabin for a few minutes. Naomi knew she shouldn't have reacted the way she did; knew that she over-reacted; knew that Emily was just trying to help. But she hadn't been able to control herself. She hadn't been able to stop the words from spilling out of her mouth. She regretted it. She regretted telling Emily all that stuff. She regretted opening up, because now Emily would know for sure that she wasn't fine. Emily would be watching her now, more than she already had been. Keeping an eye on her. Trying to make sure that she was okay every fucking minute. And Naomi didn't want that. She was used to being alone. Used to looking after herself. It was just how things were for her. It was normal; comfortable.

She was jerked from her thoughts when she heard Emily's voice. "Pack up your stuff."

Naomi turned around to look at Emily, who had stopped crying and was now standing a few feet away from her. "What?"

"Pack up your stuff." Emily repeated. "We're going."

"Where?" Naomi asked.

"Home."

"Why?"

"Because you're staying with me now."

"No. I don't want to." Naomi said.

"You don't have a choice." Emily said.

"That's hardly professional." Naomi pointed out.

"I don't care." Emily said firmly. "Now pack up your shit and lets get going."

Naomi looked Emily in the eye. She could see that she was serious. She couldn't understand why Emily was doing this for her, but she could tell that the redhead wasn't going to back down.

Naomi crossed the small cabin and pulled a suitcase out from under the bed. She opened it up and Emily saw that it hadn't been unpacked. Naomi put the few things she had bothered unpacking back in to the suitcase – a couple of books, a t-shirt, a jacket; her toothbrush, and a tube of toothpaste; a folder from work and a couple of loose sheets of paper, most of which seemed like work documents, some newspaper clippings, and a photograph.

She zipped up the suitcase and set it on the ground, pulling up the handle so that she could drag it on its wheels. She walked over to Emily, took a glance around the room to check that she hadn't missed anything. She noticed the still half-full bottle of vodka on the table. Feeling Emily's eyes on her, she decided to leave it. She switched off the dim light and grabbed her handbag from where it sat on the ground by the door and slung it over her shoulder. Emily opened the door and Naomi lifted the suitcase down the step and set it on the ground outside.

Emily and Naomi made their way back to the reception building, where Emily went inside, instructing Naomi to wait outside. A few minutes later, Emily came back outside and, without saying a word, starting walking to the car park, leaving Naomi to follow behind.

The drive back to Emily's apartment was eerily quiet, neither of the women knowing what to say. Emily pulled in to the underground car park of her apartment building, noticing that the park next to hers, the one assigned to Cook's car, was empty, which meant he was still out with Zack and Mia.

Naomi unbuckled her seatbelt and went to open the door. "Naomi, wait." Emily said. Naomi looked over at Emily, waiting for her to speak.

"Naomi, I know that I have no idea what you've been through. I know that my life has been ridiculously sheltered compared to a lot of people. I don't pretend to know what's going on with you, and I don't expect you to just tell me. But just know that if you do ever want to tell me, or talk to me about anything, I'm here for you. I know I'm your boss, but I'd like to think that we are friends first." Emily said.

Naomi looked at her for a moment, not quite sure what to say. She was about to just say thanks, when Emily spoke again.

"You don't need to say anything. Just know that I'm here for you when… if… you ever need."

Naomi nodded and waited until Emily got out of the car to make sure she had finished speaking.

The two made their way back up to Emily's apartment. When they got inside, Emily led Naomi upstairs and in to a bedroom. "This room is normally for Cook's brother when he stays over, but it's yours for as long as you want it. Zack and Mia are staying here for a week, so the house might be a little bit crazy for a bit, but it shouldn't be too bad."

"Thanks." Naomi said, putting her suitcase in the corner and looking around the room. There was a double bed in the middle of the room, a wardrobe in the corner, a desk and chair in another corner. A TV sat on top of a chest of drawers opposite the bed. A small but comfy looking sofa stood a bit further along the wall from the bed, angled so that you could see the television from it, but so you could also see out of the French doors that opened out to the balcony. It was a nice room. Much nicer than the cabin Naomi had been staying in for most of the week.

"So make yourself at home. Don't feel like you have to spend time with the rest of us, if you'd rather just be alone. But don't feel like you need to stay in your room all the time either." Emily told her. "The bathroom is just down the hall if you want to freshen up a bit."

Naomi nodded. She knew that when Emily said _freshen up_ she really meant _sober up_. "Thanks. I might do that." She said.

"Okay. I'll leave you to it then. Towels are in the linen press right outside the bathroom. Help yourself to whatever soaps and shampoos and stuff you want, it's all in the shower. I'll just be downstairs if you need anything."

Emily pointed Naomi to the towels and the bathroom and headed downstairs. She just got downstairs when Cook, Zack and Mia walked in the front door. "Hey kids," She said as they ran past her, in to the lounge room to play with their toys. "Hey James." She said to Cook, pecking him on the lips.

"James? You only call me James when you're mucking around, angry with me, or when you're stressed. You don't sound like you're mucking around, you don't seem to be angry. What's going on? Did everything go okay with Naomi?"

Emily took a deep breath and collapsed in to Cook, allowing him to wrap his arms around her.

"It was… interesting…" Emily said, gripping on to Cook's shirt. She felt like if she let go she would fall over. Her afternoon with Naomi had left her very emotionally exhausted.

"What happened?" Cook asked, smoothing Emily's hair and placing a kiss on the top of her head.

"Well she was staying at this disgusting caravan park in this tiny little cabin. And she was in a bit of a state. We had a bit of an argument. It was all a bit crazy. But now I've told her that she can stay with us for a while. She's upstairs having a shower now. I told her she could stay in Paddy's room for a while. Is that okay?" Emily said.

"Yeah, that's fine. Am I allowed to know what you fought about?" Cook asked.

Emily knew he wasn't trying just being nosy. He was just making sure that both Emily and Naomi were okay.

"It's not really my place to say." Emily said. "I imagine you will find out eventually, but it's up to her if you know. I don't even understand things properly myself. All I know is that she is in a pretty bad place at the moment. I think she just needs us to be there for her."

"Then be there for her we shall." Cook said, gently pushing Emily away from him, resting his hands lightly on the base of her neck and looking her in the eye. "Are you okay? Do you want me to take this kids over to JJ and Lara's for a few hours, give you and Naomi a bit of space?"

"No, it's fine. I think we need a distraction."

Emily and Cook walked in to the lounge room and sat on the sofa together, watching Zack and Mia play with their toys. Ten minutes later, Naomi came downstairs and joined them, sitting on the other side of the L-shaped sofa. Emily noticed that her eyes were slightly bloodshot, but she looked a lot better than she had before.

"I might order some pizza then." Cook said standing up. "Any preferences Naomi?"

"No, I'm fine with anything, thanks." She answered. Cook disappeared in to the kitchen to order the pizza. A minute later he called out that he was going to pick them up and that he'd be back soon.

After sitting in silence for a few minutes, watching the kids playing, Emily looked over to Naomi, who was looking right back at Emily. Emily gave her a little smile. Trying to figure out how best to say what she wanted to say. Naomi started speaking first though. "Thank you for letting me stay here." She said quietly so that Zack and Mia wouldn't be able to hear her. "I really do appreciate everything you're doing for me. I know I probably have a funny way of showing it, but I do."

Emily scooted along the sofa so that she was closer to Naomi. "Don't mention it." She said, "I'm sorry for prying earlier. You were right; it's none of my business. I just didn't understand and you shocked me a little bit."

"It's fine. It's understandable. And I'm sorry too. I shouldn't have reacted the way I did. I know you were just trying to help."

"It's fine." Emily said. "Naomi, I know we're not the same people we were when we were eight. I know you have a lot going on. I know you have a lot of issues. But I still want to be friends with you. If you want to be."

"Yeah. I'd like that." Naomi said.

The two sat quietly for a moment, side by side.

"You scared me earlier." Emily admitted quietly.

"I know." Naomi said. "I'm sorry. Like I said, I didn't mean to over-react like I did."

"I don't mean you shouting." Emily said, "I meant what you said. The things that you said scared me."

Naomi sat silently, staring down in to her lap.

"All those things you said… Did you mean them?" Emily asked, "Or was it just an 'in the moment' kind of thing?"

"What parts?"

"The part about… The part where you said… When you said that… You wish you were dead." Emily said quietly.

Naomi continued to stare in to her lap, not saying anything. She could hear Emily's ragged breath beside her and knew that she must be crying.

"Naomi, look at me." Emily said. Naomi didn't move. "Look at me, Naomi." After a moment Naomi gathered the courage to look up to those brown eyes that she knew would be so full of… _feeling_.

Emily looked in to the cool blue eyes and once again, so nothing but pain and emptiness. She knew from Naomi's silence what her answer was.

"Naomi, never, _ever_ fool yourself in to thinking that you would be better off dead." She said, tears running down her face, heart aching for the blonde. Naomi looked back down to her lap. Emily cupped her cheeks and turned her face back to look at her. Reluctantly, Naomi looked back in to the watery brown orbs.

"Naomi, you are an incredible person." Emily said, "You really are. You're smart, and funny and beautiful. I know there is a lot going in there," Emily said, placing her hand over Naomi's heart. "I know that there is a lot of hurt, and pain and anger. But I also know that there is a lot of love in there. And I know that it's because you allow yourself to love so deeply that you get so hurt. People are shit. They really are. I was lucky enough to be raised in a family that loved me unconditionally. I think that you were not so lucky. But that doesn't mean that there aren't people that love you. I love you. Mum, Dad and Katie love you. And if you give them a chance and let them in, I know that plenty of other people would love you too."

Naomi took a deep shaky breath, taking in everything that Emily had said.

"I know you have a lot of issues that you need to work through." Emily continued. "But I want to help you with that, if you'll let me. Because I know that underneath those issues; underneath the pain and the anger and all those other bad feelings, I know that there is a beautiful, loving, friendly, _happy_ woman. You're not supposed to feel this way, Naomi. I remember you when we were little. You were almost always happy. So let me in, Naomi. Let me in so that we can find that eight-year-old girl that has been lost somewhere inside you. I know she's in there somewhere. I saw her when you were talking to Cook about music and movies on that first night you came here. I saw her when you first saw that photo of us from when we were kids. I saw her when you were explaining some political concept to Effy and Panda at work the other day. I know she's in there. And I know that you could be happy. If you just let your walls down a bit, allow people to help you, then I know that we can make things better."

Naomi sat quietly for a minute thinking about everything Emily had said. "Do you really think it's that easy?" Naomi asked.

"No. It's not easy at all. It will probably be one of the hardest things you do. It will hurt, and it will make you think it's not worth it. But in the end you just have to decide whether you would rather spend the rest of your life like this, or whether you would rather make things better, regardless of how hard it's going to be."

Naomi sat for another minute. "Will you help me then?" She whispered.

"Yes." Emily said. "I'll definitely help. I'll be with you every single step of the way, if you want me to be. I can be as involved as you like. But you need to stop pushing me away if it's going to work. You need to start being honest with me. I don't expect you to tell me your whole life story tonight. But maybe just a little bit at a time, yeah? Whenever you're comfortable."

"That would be good." Naomi said.

Cook walked in to the apartment then, carrying two pizzas. Zack and Mia dropped their toys and ran over to Cook, ready to get their dinner. Cook placed the pizzas down on the coffee table and disappeared in to the kitchen. "Beer, Naomikins?" He called out.

"Yes please." Naomi called back.

Emily raised an eyebrow at her. "I'll only have one." Naomi promised.

Cook returned a minute later with plates for everyone, beers for Emily, Naomi and himself and cups of juice for Zack and Mia.

Cook turned on his nightly episode of Mr Bean and everyone stuck in to their dinner, eating until they were full.

A while after dinner, Cook and Zack were lying on their bellies on the ground, playing a game of snap. Emily and Naomi were still watching Mr Bean, and Mia was playing with her baby doll. Suddenly Mia put down her doll, picked up her Cat in the Hat book, wandered over to Naomi and passed her the book, before climbing in to her lap and instructing her to read the book to her. Naomi, though slightly taken aback at the youngster's actions, opened the book and began to read it out loud. She read the entire book, not noticing that Mia had drifted off to sleep about half way through.

When Naomi closed the book and noticed that Mia was fast asleep, a big smile spread across her face.

"There she is." Said Emily, who had been watching Naomi read the story and had noticed the grin on her face.

"Hmm?"

"The eight-year-old girl. There she is." Emily said.

Naomi looked down at the sleeping girl in her arms, the smile on her face broadening even more as she pulled the young child closer to her.

* * *

**Hope you enjoyed. Leave a review and let me know what you thought, if you have a free second. They really do motivate me to write more.**

**Also. I hated having to make Gina die. I didn't want to do it, because I LOVE Gina, but it's sort of important to the story. Please don't hate me too much :S**


	6. Chapter 5

**Hello faithful readers. As always, sorry for taking so long to update. End of uni means buttloads of assignments to do. That, combined with my motivation levels that have now reached negative figures, plus my incredible procrastination skills means I haven't got a lot of anything done. Feel free to leave reviews telling me how shit I am. **

**Also, for anyone wondering, I haven't forgotten about _House Made of Paper_. I'm just a bit stuck on it so I've been mainly focussing on this story for a while. But I'm on holidays for 3 months at the end of next week, so I'm planning on getting a lot of writing done. Sorry if any of you are annoyed or disappointed by my lack of updates for HMoP. Again, feel free to tell me how shit I am :P I can handle it.**

**Anyway, here's chapter 5. I really don't like this chapter, but hopefully you find it satisfactory. Keep in mind that it's 3am here and my concentration levels are beginning to waver, so sorry for any mistakes. **

**Rant over.**

* * *

**Chapter 5:**

"Morning." Naomi said, walking in to the kitchen, freshly showered and dressed.

"Good morning!" Cook said, "Pancakes?"

"Wow, yes please." Naomi said, taking a seat at the table, just off the kitchen.

Cook walked over and tipped a hot pancake out of the fry pan on to Naomi's plate.

"There's maple syrup, lemon, sugar, jam, nutella, butter, cream… Ice cream if you want it…"

"Ice cream?" Zack piped up from his place at the table.

"Not for you, little man." Cook told him, "You can have some after school though."

"But you said Naomi could have it." Zack whined.

"Yes, because Naomi is an adult. When you are an adult you can ice cream for breakfast as well." Cook told him.

Zack slouched down in his seat and pouted. "It's okay Zack, I'm not having ice cream anyway. I am going to have nutella, same as you." Naomi told him.

"Good morning." Emily announced as she walked in to the kitchen, also just showered and dressed in jeans and a t-shirt. She walked over to Cook and pecked him on the lips, then crossed over to the table. "Morning Mia." She said, bending forward and placing a kiss on the top of Mia's head and ruffling up her fluffy bed-hair. "Morning Zachary." She said, giving Zack a kiss on the top of his head as well, though he tried to dodge it.

"And morning Naomi," Emily said, moving to stand behind Naomi and kissing her on the top of her head, much to Naomi's surprise. Normally Naomi would have hated anyone doing that to her. Even when she was a kid she had hated it when her Mum had done that to her. But coming from Emily, it wasn't so bad, Naomi thought, unable to stop the smile from spreading over her face.

Emily took a seat next to Naomi and watched Naomi spreading nutella on to her pancake, then rolling it up, picking it up and taking a bite. Naomi noticed Emily watching her and stopped eating.

"What?" She asked.

"Nutella? Really? I bought that for Zack and Mia."

"What? Nutella is great. It gets all melted and tastes amazing."

"You're eating it the same way as Zack." Emily pointed out. Naomi looked at Zack and noticed that he was also eating his Nutella pancake rolled up and with his fingers rather than just cutting it up with a knife and fork.

"Yeah, that's because it tastes better this way. Isn't that right, Zack?"

"Yep." Zack said, nodding enthusiastically.

"Sure it does." Emily said, tipping a generous amount of maple syrup over her own pancake and cutting it up with a knife and fork.

"It does." Naomi said. "Your way is just boring."

"Yep. Boring." Mia said, even though Naomi was pretty sure she didn't actually know what they were talking about.

"Excuse me, miss," Emily said to Mia, "but you have jam on yours and you are eating it the same way as me."

Mia just spooned another piece of the strawberry jam-covered pancake in to her mouth. "Full now." She said.

Emily looked at her plate and noticed she had eaten almost the whole pancake, which was quite big. "Okay, good girl. Wipe your hands and you can go play."

Mia wiped her hands on her napkin, climbed down from the table and ran out of the kitchen, closely followed by Zack who had also finished.

"I should probably go help him get ready for school. " Emily said, rising from her seat.

"I'll go do it, I've already had my breakfast." Cook said. "There's more pancake mix there if you want some more."

Emily sat back down at her seat and continued eating. "How are you feeling today?" She asked Naomi.

Naomi shrugged. "Okay."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. It's nice not waking up with a hangover for once." Naomi said.

"I take it the spliff and vodka is a bit of a regular occurrence then?"

"Yeah." Naomi said quietly, quite obviously ashamed.

"Is it going to continue being a regular occurrence?" Emily asked.

"I don't want it to be. But I don't think it will be as easy as just stopping." Naomi said. "I don't know how to face everything without the spliff and vodka. It kind of numbs everything. Dulls the edges a bit."

"I'll help you. I'll hold you accountable… If you want me to." Emily said.

Naomi looked down at her plate. "Yeah, that'd be good." She said quietly.

The two finished their breakfast off in silence, neither quite sure what to say to the other. It wasn't awkward though, surprisingly. It was just… normal… When they were both done, Emily picked up their plates and put them in the sink. "I better go make sure Zack is ready for school. Did you want to go to work today or do you want to take the day off? If you want to take it off that's fine. You can just tell JJ I said you could."

"No, I'll go in. JJ and I are interviewing some people today for the journalist jobs."

"Oh right, I totally forgot. Well once that's done you can take the afternoon off if you want. I know there's not a lot for you to be doing quite yet."

"Thanks, if I feel like I'm just being a waste of space I might take the afternoon off."

"Cool. Well if you do, give me a call and you can come meet up with us. Or you can just come back here and have some time to yourself. I'll give you the spare key so you don't have to rely on us all the time." Emily said, getting the spare key to the apartment out of a drawer in the kitchen and passing it to Naomi. "If you want I can drop you at work after I take Zack to school, it's pretty much on the way."

"Okay, thanks." Naomi said, "I better finish getting ready."

45 minutes later, Emily was dropping Naomi off outside the large office building.

"Hope the interviews go well." Emily said as Naomi stepped out of the car.

"Yeah, thanks. Have fun with Cook and Mia. I'll see you this afternoon." Naomi said.

Emily drove off down the street and Naomi walked in to the building, taking the lift up to the ninth floor, where her new office was. She walked past a few empty cubicles and in to her office. She closed the door behind her, sat down at her desk and booted up her computer. Looking around her office, she noticed how bare it was. It was nothing like Emily and JJ's office. JJ's desk was covered with pictures of Lara, and his sons, Albert and Jonah. Emily's desk was covered with pictures of her and Cook, of Katie, Ben, Zack and Mia, and of James and their parents. The walls were covered with all sorts of things; mostly posters of some of their magazine covers; some awards that the company had won. A photo of JJ and Emily at their college graduation, another at their university graduation and another of them the day they had officially started the company. Add then a couple more photos of their families and friends and there was hardly any wall space left. Naomi looked around her office. There were no photos, no posters, no awards. The only thing on her wall was an A4 piece of paper next to the door that showed the emergency exit drill. Not particularly exciting. Her desk had nothing but a computer and a phone. The pin up board above the desk was empty, except for a piece of paper that listed the extension numbers for the other offices.

The computer finally finished starting up and Naomi looked at the screen, ready to start her work. A smile spread across her face when she saw the picture filling the screen. Emily had taken it on the webcam a few days earlier while they had been waiting for JJ to come and meet them. The photo was mostly of Emily's face. She had her tongue sticking out, so that her tongue piercing could be seen, her eyes opened wide. Naomi could be seen in the corner of the photo in the background, half laughing at Emily, half wondering what the fuck she was doing. After Emily had taken, she had had made it Naomi's desktop background. _"So that you can always see my pretty face."_ Emily had said after she had done it, still laughing at the photo.

Naomi was just about to open a new document and start doing some writing. Her, Emily and JJ had agreed that, at least while the magazine was starting up, she would do some of the writing for it. She'd had plenty of experience in writing and was pretty fucking good at it. And she liked it. When she sat at that computer and let her fingers tap away at the keys, whether it be an article about women's rights, animal rights, whatever election or campaign was going on at the time, or getting rid of university fees, when she started writing, everything else seemed to stop. The world slowed down for a bit. It didn't matter about her past, or what was going on in her life at the time. When she wrote she forgot about all that other stuff. It was her escape. So she had agreed to do some of the writing for the magazine, since they weren't sure how many writers they would be able to hire straight away, and her job as an editor wasn't too busy at this stage, seeing as she didn't actually have anything to edit yet.

She was just deciding what to write about when her phone rang. She answered it and heard Thomas' voice on the other line. "Good morning Naomi. How are you?" He asked.

"Fine thanks Thomas." She answered.

"I'm so glad to here that." Thomas said, "I'm just calling to say that JJ has arrived, he said the first interview is in 15 minutes, so please come up when you're ready."

"Okay, thank you Thomas, I'll be there in a minute."

Naomi hung up the phone, grabbed a few folders out of the filing cabinet and left the office, walking over to the lifts. She pressed the button for the twelfth floor and waited for the elevator to arrive. The doors opened with a ding and she looked up to see Freddie and Effy jump apart from each other, clearly not expecting the lift doors to open yet.

"Shit sorry." Naomi said, averting her eyes. "I'll just wait for the next one."

"No, Naomi, don't be silly." Effy said, straightening her top. "Sorry, didn't expect anyone to be getting on till twelfth floor."

Naomi stepped awkwardly in to the lift and went to press the button for the twelfth floor, before realising it had already been pressed.

"So Naomi," Freddie said, wiping Effy's lipstick off his mouth. "How are you finding things? Settling in well?"

"Yeah, it's great. Not a lot to do yet, but hopefully that will change soon."

"Don't worry about that." Freddie said, "Soon enough you'll have so much work you will be wishing you had less."

"Good. That's how I like things." Naomi said.

"Oh. Well then I'm sure you'll love it here." Freddie said with a smile at Naomi. Effy was just gazing at Naomi, an unreadable expression on her face. Naomi looked down at the ground to avoid Effy's gaze but she could sense that she was still staring at her. It made her pretty uncomfortable. She was relieved when she heard the ding and the doors opened. She stepped out and looked at Effy and Freddie who hadn't moved yet.

"Are you coming?" She asked.

Freddie looked sideways at Effy. "Actually I just realised I left something behind. Better go back down." Freddie said, pushing the button for the eighth floor.

"Oh yeah. Me too." Effy said with a smirk. "Catch you later Naomi."

Naomi walked past a couple of cubicles until she got to Thomas' desk, which stood opposite Pandora's desk. "Hey Thomas, is JJ in his office?" She asked.

"Yep, he said to just go in. I hope the interviews go well." He said, before resuming his conversation with Panda. Something about whether donuts with strawberry flavoured icing were better than donuts with strawberry filling.

Naomi knocked on the door to Emily and JJ's office and let herself in.

"Morning Naomi." JJ said when she entered the office.

"Morning JJ."

"I thought we might as well just do the interviews in here today." JJ said. "Easier than trying to explain where the meeting rooms are to people."

"Good idea." Naomi said, remembering how she had had to ask someone how to find the meeting room for her own interview.

"Why don't you take a seat?" JJ suggested, gesturing to the seats on the other side of his desk. Naomi took a seat and placed her files on the desk on front of her. "So we have six interviews to do this morning. Should be fairly simple. We're looking to hire two full time writers at this stage. I'm hoping that we will be able to find a couple of people that are appropriate from today's interviews, however if we don't, we can advertise again and do some more interviews next week. I'd just like to avoid having hundreds of people applying and having to sort through them all."

"Sounds good." Naomi said.

"So Emily tells me that you're going to be staying with her and Cook for a while."

"Yeah, I am." Naomi answered. "Is that okay? Not too unprofessional or anything?"

"Of course, it's fine. We're hardly strict on professionalism here, Naomi." JJ said, "Me and Emily are best friends. Emily hired Panda because we have all been friends since college and Panda needed a job. I hired Thomas because he was going out with Panda and we were friends through that. We hired Effy without even interviewing her because she went to uni with us and Emily knew she was good. And it's no secret that her and Freddie are going out. They definitely don't try too hard to keep it a secret."

"You got that right." Naomi said.

"I take it you interrupted a make out session in the elevator then?" JJ said knowingly.

"Yes."

"Yes, they seem quite fond of doing that. And they both seriously lack subtlety."

JJ and Naomi sat in the office making small talk for the next few minutes until Thomas' voice sounded through the intercom informing them that their first interviewee had arrived.

A few hours later, Naomi had returned to her office and was sitting at her desk doing some research for her article. The interviews had gone smoothly, and JJ and Naomi had agreed on one person they were fairly certain they wanted to hire and had another two people that they wanted to see for a second interview. Overall, the morning had been a success.

Naomi knew that she could leave if she wanted to and go and join Emily, Cook and Mia, but she felt a bit awkward calling Emily to meet up with them. She had never been in a job where she could just leave in the middle of the day and go hang out with her boss. She had never even had any friends to hang out with even if she had wanted to leave work early.

She stopped typing when she realised that she considered Emily and Cook to be her friends. She never had friends. She didn't do friends. That's just not who she was. She preferred to be by herself – an introvert in every sense of the word.

It surprised her to notice that she actually did want to spend more time with Emily. She had never wanted to spend time with people before. Not since she was friends with Emily and Katie when they were kids, before she moved away.

At the same time though, she didn't want to spend time with Emily. Their conversation the day before had left her feeling vulnerable. Emily knew now. She didn't know the whole story or Naomi's reasons for acting the way she does. But finding Naomi completely trashed and living in a trailer is a pretty good indicator that she doesn't exactly have her shit together.

Naomi knew that if she and Emily were going to be friends, then Emily wouldn't let her keep drinking and taking drugs. She wouldn't let Naomi keep ruining her life. She would make her face the shit. Face her past. And Naomi wasn't sure if she could do that. It would re-open too many old wounds. Wounds that Naomi had sealed by ignoring them and pretending that they weren't there.

But Naomi knew that Emily wasn't going to let her keep ignoring her problems. And it struck her that she didn't want to keep ignoring them either. As easy as it was to ignore them, and as horrible as it would be to face them, Naomi realised that she didn't want to keep running from her past anymore. She couldn't say that she was ready to spill out her whole story to Emily so that they could start working at making things better straight away, but she knew that she was getting to a point where she could start sharing little bits at a time though. One tiny step by one tiny step.

_Not today though_, Naomi thought. _I'm not ready to spend a full day with Emily just yet._ She needed time to process everything that was going on. Give her heart and brain a little bit of time to catch up to each other.

She looked back to her computer screen and continued writing, deciding that she would at least finish this article before she made a definite decision about whether or not to go and meet up with Emily or not. Even though deep down she knew that she wouldn't go and meet her. She just couldn't face it today.

She was getting close to finishing the article when she heard a knock on her office door. She turned around just as Cook opened the door and stuck his head inside.

"Cook, what are you doing here? Shouldn't you be with Emily and Mia?" Naomi asked, surprised.

"Yeah, I was. But then Emily realised that she had forgotten to take some file home with her yesterday and she was planning on doing some work on it this weekend." Cook said, holding up a folder. "So I said I would come in and pick it up for her so that she could stay with Mia."

"Oh, okay. Fair enough." Naomi said, not really sure how this affected her or why Cook was now standing in the middle of her office and looking around.

"Jesus, Naomi, could your office look a bit more plain?" Cook said. "You need to do some serious decorating in here."

"Decorating my office is not really my first priority at the moment." Naomi answered, wishing that Cook would just get to the point of why he was in her office.

"Fair enough. Anyway, the reason I'm here is because Emily told me to come and see if you were ready to leave. She said that if you were I should give you a lift to meet up with her and Mia."

"Oh well thanks, but I was actually planning on just getting some extra work done this afternoon. But thanks anyway."

"Emily said you would probably say that." Cook said. Naomi was momentarily taken aback by Emily's strange ability to predict how Naomi would react to any given situation. "She also said that if you do say that, then I shouldn't listen to you because you don't actually have that much work to do and you deserve an afternoon off and her and JJ both say it's fine and she wants to hang out with you." Cook said, listing Emily's reasons off on his fingers.

Naomi resisted the smile that threatened to take over her face. "Tell Emily I said thanks, but I really do want to at least get this article finished before I leave." She said, nodding to her computer screen.

Cook moved to stand behind her so that he could see the computer screen better. Naomi tried not to cringe at how close he was. Not that she had anything against Cook. She just didn't like it when people stood that close to her. Cook placed his hand on the computer mouse and scrolled up a couple of pages, skimming over the work that Naomi had already done.

"You've already got a couple of pages written. How much more do you have to do for this article? Surely no more than a couple of hundred words… All Emily's articles that I have seen are normally only a couple of pages long…"

"Um, well, not much more." Naomi admitted, not expecting Cook to know so much about her job.

"How long will it take you to finish it off?" Cook asked. "15 minutes? Half hour? 45 minutes?"

"Probably about half an hour." Naomi said.

"Great. Well I'll be back to pick you up in half an hour then." Cook said.

"Oh, no, that's fine. You don't have to-" Naomi started, trying to think of an excuse to make Cook just leave her be for the afternoon.

"Nope. I'm not listening. Emily said to not take no for an answer, so I'm not taking no for an answer. I'll be back to pick you up at half twelve." Cook said, leaving the office and closing the door behind him.

"Fucksake." Naomi muttered to herself. She didn't like people telling her what to do. Although at the same time, she was kind of happy that Cook and Emily were going to such measures to make her take the afternoon off and spend time with them. It made her feel kind of loved. Appreciated.

She knew that she could just refuse to go with Cook. It's not like he could force her to go. What was he going to do, drag her kicking and screaming out of the building and then force her to have fun with him, Emily and Mia? Not likely… But something in her wanted to go with him. Wanted to take the afternoon off and have some fun with the only people that she could consider to be friends.

Deciding that she better be ready to leave when Cook came back to pick her up, she continued writing her article.

Right on half twelve, just as he had promised, Cook knocked on Naomi's office door and let himself in.

"Ready to go?" He asked.

"Just about. Just want to give this a quick read over, if that's okay."

"Yeah, that's fine." Cook said.

Naomi read through her article, fixing the occasional error and taking note of changes she would later make. She could hear Cook moving around behind her but didn't bother to look to see what he was doing.

Satisfied with the article as a draft, Naomi hit the save button and shut down her computer. She spun around on her chair to tell Cook that she was ready to go, but the words never came out as she saw Cook staring right at her, a huge grin on his face.

"Cook, why is there a poster of four stoned hippies on my wall?" She asked him, looking at The Beatles- Abby Road poster that was stuck on her wall behind Cook.

"Hey, c'mon now. They have a name. And if you're gonna give them a nickname, at least make it something good, like _The Fab Four, _or… I don't know… _Most-Fucking-Brilliant-Band-Ever_. You know… Something that's actually fitting…" Cook said, broad grin still on his face.

"_Most-Fucking-Brilliant-Band-Ever_? But you said something that's fitting…" Naomi joked.

"Ouch. That one hurt!" Cook said, placing a hand over his chest as if he was in pain. "I go to the effort of sticking this up on your wall and all you do is insult my taste in music."

"You never answered my question." Naomi said, "Why is there a poster of The Beatles up on my wall?"

"Because your office is fucking empty. It's all just gray and white and boring. And there's this record shop across the street and I was looking around in there while I was waiting for you and I noticed that they had posters. So I bought this one for you, decided it would spruce up your office a bit. But if you don't like it I guess I might as well take it down and put it up somewhere at home." Cook said, pulling the tape off the bottom left hand corner.

"No! Leave it." Naomi said, taking the tape from Cook and sticking it back up. "I like it. Thanks Cook."

"You don't have to leave it up. We can go and get you a poster of… I dunno… Phil Collins or… Duran Duran."

"No, no. Leave it up. Really, I like it. I mean, I don't like the band very much. But I appreciate the gift."

"Righto. Ready to go then?"

"Yep, all good." Naomi said, picking up her bag and switching off the light to her office.

Naomi and Cook made their way to the elevator and Cook pressed the button to go down.

"Wait. You don't like Phil Collins?" Naomi said as the waiting, just realising that Cook had mocked him just minutes earlier.

"Actually, Phil Collins is not that bad. He was just the first person that came to mind." Cook admitted.

"Not that bad? He's fucking brilliant." Naomi said. "Have you ever listened to the lyrics of his songs? They actually have meaning. Not like your fucking '_bye-bye, miss American pie, drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry.'_"

"First of all that song actually has a lot of possible different meanings. It's got references to like a hundred different things in it. And it's most likely about Buddy Holly who, by the way, is another musical genius. Secondly, that song was released in 1972, not in the sixties, so your point isn't even valid."

Naomi didn't say anything, just stepped in to the lift and pressed the button for the ground floor.

"Yeah, nothing to say to that, do ya?" Cook said, rubbing Naomi's nose in it. "Just goes to prove that I'm better than you."

Again, Naomi said nothing, just looked straight ahead, struggling to keep the smile off her face.

"Yeah, that's right. You just think about it. Think about how I'm right and how you're wrong."

Cook continued like this the entire way out of the building until they got to the street and hopped in to his car. Cook started the car and music played through the speakers. Naomi recognised the notes within seconds. Cook noticed what music was playing and quickly punched the button to switch the stereo from CD to radio.

"Woah, woah, woah." Naomi said, switching it back to CD and turning the volume up. "Don't pretend you weren't listening to this."

"It must have been left in here by Emily or someone." Cook defended.

"No, don't give me that shit." Naomi said, a broad smile on her face for catching Cook out. "We both know that Emily would never own a Crowded House CD. Admit it. This CD is yours, and you like it and the 80's are not as bad as you seem to think they are!"

"Fine! It's mine. I happen to enjoy a bit of Crowded House occasionally."

"Aha! I knew it. And is there any other 80's music you listen to, or is this it?"

"This is it." Cook assured her. "I may appreciate Neil Finn's musical goodness, but the rest of the 80's is still crap."

"So if I look in here I won't find anything else from the 80's?" Naomi said, slowly opening the centre console between her and Cook.

"N-no." Cook said hesitantly.

Naomi opened it and flicked through the collection of CD's.

"Aha!" She shouted triumphantly, pulling out a CD and holding it up. She saw Cook tense slightly as he drove. "Billy Joel!"

"Doesn't count. Billy Joel started in the 70's and kept going till the 90's." Cook argued.

"Perhaps, but I happen to know that this particular CD was released in 1980."

Cook didn't say anything, just looked straight ahead at the road.

"Yeah, that's right. You just sit there and think about how you're wrong and how I'm right." Naomi said, mimicking Cook's earlier words. "I'm right and the 80's are not as bad as you make them out to be."

"Fine," Cook admitted. "Not _all_ of the 80's are terrible. Just most of it. But even the good stuff from the 80's will never be as good as the 60's."

The two were still arguing when they arrived at the park and crossed the grass to join Emily and Mia at the swings.

"Jesus Christ, are you two still arguing about music?" Emily asked when they got close enough for her to hear them.

"Naomi won't admit that the 60's are better than the 80's." Cook explained.

"Cook won't admit that he likes the 80's, even though I found two CD's from the 80's in his car."

"That's because Cook is a jerk who can't admit when he is wrong." Emily said, lifting Mia out of the swing.

Naomi cracked up laughing and Emily smiled at the sound.

"Oi!" Cook exclaimed as Mia ran off ran off to climb the steps to the slide. "I can admit when I'm wrong, okay? I just happen to right 99% of the time."

"Cook?" Emily said.

"Yeah?"

"Just shut up and go buy us some ice cream, yeah?" Emily said, pointing to the little shop across the street. Naomi laughed even harder.

Cook wandered off across the park mumbling something under his breath about girls ganging up on him.

Emily watched as Naomi stopped laughing and looked back at her, a smile still on her face.

"That's a nice sound." Emily said. Naomi blushed slightly. Emily walked over to Naomi, reached up and wrapped an arm around Naomi shoulder, pulling her down slightly and placed a kiss on the top of Naomi's head. Naomi tensed slightly at the touch, but then relaxed as Emily led her over to the park bench, arm still draped over her shoulder.

She wasn't used to people just coming over to her and touching her or hugging or kissing her. She wasn't used to having anyone in her life that would actually do that… She didn't mind it. It just made her feel a bit awkward at first. She didn't know how to react. Did she just let them do it? Was she supposed to always hug back? Should she put her arm around Emily as well, or just leave her arms at her sides?

"How are you?" Emily asked Naomi as they sat down. Naomi knew what she was really asking. _'Are you planning on going home and wrecking yourself on vodka and weed?'_

"I'm alright." Naomi answered. Emily knew what she was really saying. _'I'm shit but I don't know what else to say.'_

Not wanting to push Naomi over the edge by trying to get too much information like she had the previous afternoon, Emily decided to change the direction of the conversation.

"JJ called just before, he said the interviews went well this morning."

"Yeah, they did. Really well." Naomi agreed.

"JJ said that you did a great job in the interviews. He said you were very confident, friendly and insightful."

Naomi didn't say anything, but a tiny smile graced her lips at the compliment.

"It's okay to accept a compliment every now and then, you know. You did a good job, be proud of yourself." Emily said, giving Naomi the permission she needed to smile properly.

"Have you had a good day so far?" Naomi asked Emily.

"Yeah, it's been fun. Played with Mia a bit at home, then she came to the shops with me to get some groceries. Then we came here and she's been running around non-stop ever since."

Naomi and Emily looked over to where Mia was now standing, legs completely straight, bending at the waist so that her head was almost on the ground in what looked to be an attempt at doing a somersault.

"Ah, I remember when we were that young and energetic and flexible." Naomi said.

"What are you talking about, used to be?" Cook said, returning with the ice creams and passing Emily and Naomi one each. "Emily still has as much energy as a five year. She's pretty damn flexible too, if you know what I mean." Cook said, wiggling his eyebrows.

Naomi and Emily both blushed bright red. "Cook just go and get Mia before she hurts herself." Emily told him. Cook walked off, laughing and calling to Mia that he had ice cream.

Naomi and Emily sat quietly eating their ice creams for a while, neither quite sure what to say to the other.

"Emily?" Naomi said eventually. Her voice was small and quiet.

"Yeah?"

"I just want you to know that I know you want me to tell you all about my past. I'm not sure I'm ready yet, but when I am I promise that I will tell you."

Emily looked at Naomi. "Naomi, I only want you to tell me if you want to tell me. I don't want you to tell me if you're only doing it because you think I want to know."

"I do want to tell you. Someday. Soon. You deserve to know. I want you to know."

Emily finished her ice cream and reached over to place her hand on top of one of Naomi's.

"I'm honoured that you would trust me enough to tell me. That I am the person you have chosen to tell." Emily said. "Whenever you are ready to talk I'll be there to listen."

Emily started slowly stroking her thumb over the back of Naomi's hand. Naomi couldn't help but think how nice it felt to have Emily's soft skin rubbing back and forth against her own. She shifted her hand slightly so that her little finger was hooked around Emily's. Emily smiled and gave Naomi's hand a little squeeze before going back to stroking with her thumb.

They stayed at the park a while longer, until Mia started getting grumpy and they decided to take her home for a nap. They all piled in to Cook's car and Mia fell asleep before they had even rounded the corner.

When they got back to the apartment, Emily carried Mia inside and put her in her cot to let her sleep for a while longer. Cook went out to pick Zack up from school, leaving Emily and Naomi in the lounge room alone.

"So, Friday afternoon." Naomi said, settling back comfortably on the sofa. "Got any big plans for the weekend?"

"Not heaps." Emily said, taking a seat a bit further up from Naomi. "Cook's brother Paddy is coming over tomorrow afternoon. He has gotten to know Zack and Mia a little bit over the years. He loves them almost as much as Cook does. So he normally comes and stays whenever we have them. So Cook and me are taking Paddy and Zack to some movie tomorrow night. Some kids movie that I can't remember the name of. I'm pretty sure Cook is more excited about it than Zack." Emily said with a laugh.

"You're not taking Mia?"

"Nah, she's a bit young for the movies yet. Her attention span is way to short. I was planning on just taking her to Mum and Dad's and she can stay there for the night instead."

"I can look after her if you like." Naomi offered, surprising herself. She hadn't meant to say that.

Emily looked at her, also clearly surprised. "That's okay. You don't want to ruin your Saturday night by looking after a two-year-old. You should have some fun. You're welcome to come to the movies with us if you want. You don't have to, but you're more than welcome."

"It wouldn't ruin my night. It would be fun. Mia's great. And how hard can it be?" Naomi said, not sure why she was saying it.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah, of course I'm sure." Naomi said, still not understanding why these words were coming out of her mouth. "I wouldn't offer if I didn't want to do it." _Shut up! Shut up you fucking twat! Just stop talking!_

"Well… Okay then. If you're sure. It would make it easier than having to take Mia to Mum and Dad's. But if you change your mind just say so."

"I won't change my mind. It's the least I can do for you letting me stay here." _Well at least that bit is true,_ Naomi thought.

"How old is Paddy?" Naomi asked a minute later.

"He's 13." Emily answered. "But I should warn you now, he's not like most other 13 year olds."

"How so?"

"Well he's had a pretty crap family life. He's only Cook's half brother. They have different fathers and neither of them has been around for either of their childhoods. Cook hasn't talked to his Dad at all since we were in college. They have nothing to do with each other. Paddy's Dad is pretty much the same as Cook's. Just doesn't care. They hardly ever see each other. And their Mum isn't most maternal of people. So she wasn't really there for either of them either. She kicked Cook out when he was 16. He kind of deserved it, but still… So anyway, Paddy decided he wanted to be just like his big brother. He dresses like Cook, talks like Cook, tries to act like Cook. Which as you can imagine, is not so great for a 13-year-old. He's gotten a bit better in the last couple of years since Cook has matured and calmed down a bit. He never meant to be, but Cook was a pretty bad influence on him when they were younger. Now that he has grown up and realised how much Paddy tries to be like him, he has pulled it together a bit and now he's is pretty much Paddy's only positive role model. They catch up at least once a week and, like I said, he stays over here quite often. But if you hear him swearing every second word, referring to everyone he doesn't like as 'tossers' and trying to steal fags, either just ignore him or tell me or Cook."

Naomi nodded, taking in all this new information about Cook. She had picked up that Cook had always been a bit of a ratbag, but she hadn't imagined that he had such an unstable family life and upbringing. From the way he treats Emily and Zack and Mia, one would think he had a perfect family.

"Hold on a sec," Naomi said, realising a problem. "Where is Paddy going to stay if I'm staying in the spare room?"

"He can either put a mattress on the floor in the kids room or he can sleep on the sofa bed in my office."

"Are you sure? I can stay on the sofa bed. Or I can find a hotel…"

"Nope." Emily said strongly. "The spare room is yours for as long as you want it. It wont bother Paddy at all."

"Well okay. If you're sure."

"I'm sure."

"Anyway, speaking of Cook, you two seem to be getting along pretty well…" Emily said, waiting for Naomi to elucidate.

"Yeah, he's easy to get along with." Naomi said. "He's funny."

"I'm glad you're getting along. Have you made many friends at work?"

"Um, yeah, I suppose so. JJ's great. And Pandora's nice, if a little eccentric. And I feel much closer to Effy and Freddie after walking in on them making out today." Naomi told Emily.

"In the elevator?"

"Yeah."

"Yeah, they do that a lot. You get used to it."

Naomi and Emily chatted for a while longer until Cook arrived home with Zack and Emily went to the kitchen to fix him a snack.

Naomi, Emily, Cook, Zack and Mia spent the rest of the afternoon together. Emily cooked spaghetti for dinner and they all ate around the big dining table, entertained by Zack's stories about school and Mia's mumblings about who knows what.

After dinner Emily bathed Zack and Mia, read them some stories and put them in to bed.

Naomi, Emily and Cook were half way through watching some boring movie that was on telly when Naomi announced that she was going to go to bed. She bid goodnight to Cook and Emily and disappeared up the stairs.

"How's she doing?" Cook asked her when they heard the door to Naomi's bedroom close shut.

"She's okay, I think. It's obvious that she has a lot going on, but she seems to be a little bit happier. I think she's starting to face things, rather than shove all her problems aside and pretend they're not there."

"Well that's a good start." Cook said, wrapping his arms around Emily and pulling her close to him. "You are an amazing friend, you know. The way you are helping her out."

"And you are an amazing boyfriend" Emily said, looking up at Cook and kissing him lightly on the lips. "Thank you for being there for me. I'm sorry if I've been a little bit distant and distracted the last couple of days. Things will go back to normal soon. I just know that Naomi needs me at the moment."

Cook leant in and kissed Emily slightly more forcefully on the lips.

"Your ability to love so greatly is one of the things I love most about you. Do what you need to do. I'll always be here for you."

"How did I end up with a boyfriend as incredible as you?" Emily asked, stroking Cook's cheek lightly.

"I'd say we are pretty evenly matched." Cook said, kissing Emily again. "Want to go upstairs?"

"Yeah," Emily said, standing up, shutting off the TV and pulling Cook to his feet. They turned off the lights and traipsed upstairs and in to their bedroom.

Emily pulled off her jeans and threw them in the dirty laundry basket, followed by her t-shirt and bra.

She felt Cook step up behind her a trail a finger down her spine, causing a shiver to run through her body. Cook leant down and placed a series of soft kisses on her shoulder and rested his hands on her hips. One hand wrapped around her front and slowly slipped inside the band of Emily's knickers.

"Mm, James, not now." Emily said, pulling his hand out and placing it on her stomach.

"But you called me James." Cook protested. "That means you're turned on."

Emily let out a little laugh at Cooks ability to know exactly how she was feeling just by the way she said his name.

"Perhaps. But you know I'm not comfortable having sex when the kids are here."

"I know." Cook said moodily. "But we have them for a week. Are you really going to hold out on me that long?"

"I'll make it up to you, I promise." Emily said, turning around in his arms and placing a kiss on his lips.

"Okay. In the mean time I guess I'll just have to settle for a half naked kissing and groping session in bed?" Cook said hopefully.

"That I can do." Emily agreed. "Just let me check on the kids and I'll be right back."

Emily slipped a large t-shirt over her head as Cook stripped down to his underwear and hopped in to bed.

Emily crept in to Zack and Mia's room and checked that they were both sleeping soundly and were covered by blankets. She placed soft kisses on their foreheads, careful not to wake them and left the room, leaving the door slightly ajar and turning on the light for the landing, in case Zack woke up in the night needing the toilet.

Emily walked back toward hers and Cook's room but stopped when she heard a noise coming from Naomi's room. She leant toward the door slightly and was surprised to hear that Naomi was crying. She knocked softly on the door and opened it quietly.

"Naomi?" She asked, looking in to the room and finding Naomi sitting on the bed in pyjama pants and a t-shirt. She looked up at Emily, biting slightly on her lower lip, eyes bloodshot, tears running down her face.

"Naoms, are you okay?" Emily asked, taking a step further in to the room.

Naomi lip buckled and the tears started pouring down her cheeks again. She shook her head slightly and wiped one of her eyes with her fist, which did nothing in drying her tears.

Emily shut the bedroom door and walked in to the room, climbing on to the bed next to Naomi, surprised when Naomi fell in to her arms and began to sob in to Emily's chest before Emily had even had a chance to sit down properly.

Emily wrapped her arms around Naomi and held her shaking body tight, heart breaking slightly at the clearly broken and vulnerable woman in her arms.

Naomi cried in to Emily's shirt for ages. Emily could feel the tears soaking through the t-shirt and on to the skin of her stomach. She continued to hold Naomi, rubbing her back and stroking her hair, letting her get out all the tears before she tried to find out what was wrong.

After what felt like half an hour, Naomi's breathing finally started to even out slightly. The tears stopped streaming so hard. Naomi's back wasn't shuddering so much. Emily leant forward and placed a kiss on the top of Naomi's head.

"Do you want to talk about it?" She asked Naomi.

"Yeah." Naomi said quietly, her voice husky and deep from crying so much. "Yeah, I do…"


	7. Chapter 6

**So there was a serious lack of reviews for the last chapter? Are people losing interest in this? Be honest, I can take it :)**

**So in this chapter we hear Naomi's story. I warn you now, it touches on some pretty serious topics, so if you don't like reading about it, just skip past that part. It will be easy enough to pick up on. Also, parts of Naomi's story are parts of my personal story, so be kind? Cheers.**

**Anyway, hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

**Chapter 6:**

Naomi sat quietly for a few minutes, calming her breathing and figuring out where to start and what to say. Emily just held her close and waited until she was ready. She thought briefly of Cook, who was waiting for her in their bedroom, but decided Naomi was more important at the moment. Cook would understand.

Emily rubbed Naomi's shoulder, offering her a bit of comfort and encouragement. She wasn't really sure what else to do. Yeah, she was good with people. And yeah, she was happy for Naomi to talk to her. And yeah, she had had a little bit of experience in talking to people about their problems, but now the time had come, she wasn't really sure what to do. Should she just listen? Should she offer advice? Should she show emotion or should she remain calm and logical?

All thoughts were swept from her mind when Naomi started to speak.

"This is kind of complicated… It's a long story."

"It's okay. Just say whatever you want. There's no rush. You can tell me as much or as little as you like tonight."

"I'm not entirely sure where to start…"

"How about at the beginning?"

"Okay. Just keep in mind that I have never told anyone this before, so if it's a bit disjointed and I'm jumping around the place a bit, I'm sorry."

"That's fine. Just do your best. And if you get to any parts that are too hard for you to talk about, just say so and we can skip past it. The most important thing is that you are comfortable."

"Right. Okay. Right…" Naomi started, clearly unsure how to start. She sat up straight and moved away from Emily slightly, so that they were still close but not quite touching.

"Naoms, just take a deep breath. Relax a bit. Just whenever you're ready."

Naomi took a deep breath and tried to calm down a bit.

"I suppose it started pretty much as soon as we left Bristol." Naomi started. Emily turned her body so that she was facing Naomi more.

"Or maybe it started before that. I suppose it started when Dad left, really. Mum was a bit messed up after that. Heartbroken, I suppose. I dunno. Whatever. She was pretty sad and depressed a lot. So we moved away to Manchester and Mum told me that we would be staying with my uncle until we were able to find our own place. I found out a while later that he wasn't really my uncle… Just a friend of my Mum's. They had been friends when they were in school and had stayed in contact after he moved to Manchester for uni. They weren't like best friends, but they were quite close.

"So we moved in with Uncle Victor and it was all great. He really was like an uncle to me. He took me to the park and he helped me with my homework and played with me all the time. He and Mum never had anything… Like they were never together or anything like that. But we started to feel a lot like a family. When Grandma died when I was nine he looked after us. Mum was in a pretty bad place already from Dad leaving, but when Grandma died, she just kind of lost it. Beside me, Grandma was Mum's only real relative left. She had been doing a lot better since we moved in with Uncle Victor, but she suddenly went down hill again after Grandma died. Looking back, it's pretty obvious that she had depression. But as a nine year old, I never knew. I don't know whether Uncle Victor knew, or whether she even really knew. I don't know if she tried to do anything to fix it.

"So Uncle Victor looked after us when Mum couldn't. He worked and provided for us. He used to walk me to school in the mornings and would pick me up whenever he had the afternoon off. He cooked for us, cleaned the house, did the laundry. Everything. Not that my Mum did nothing… She still looked after me. We still got along and had fun together. But Uncle Victor did most of the stuff to support us.

"And then my Mum started getting sick. She didn't want to go to the doctors… Something about natural remedies being better than anything a doctor could give her. But when she started getting worse, Uncle Victor didn't give her a choice. He took her to the doctor. They did a whole heap of tests. I didn't understand it heaps at the time. Though I understood more than they thought I did. They kept me in the dark for a long time. I guess they thought I was too young to notice that something wasn't right. I did though. I noticed everything. I never really had any friends, so I spent all my time just watching people instead. I got good at reading people. So even though Mum and Uncle Victor didn't realise it, I noticed every look they exchanged, every word they said to each other. And I knew what they meant. I hated them for a while for not telling me what was going on. For treating me like a kid. I know I was a kid. I was only ten. But I felt older. I thought I was pretty much an adult by then.

"Then one day we went to the park. I convinced Mum to join me and Uncle Victor playing football. She played with us for a while until she said she was too tired and that it was time to go home. So we walked home and just as we arrived home, Mum passed out. She just collapsed on the ground, right out the front of the house. Uncle Victor called an ambulance and he rode with her to the hospital. He left me home by myself. I had never been left at home by myself at that stage. Either Mum or Uncle Victor was always there. I spent the whole time in my room crying. I thought it was my fault because I had begged Mum to play with us, even though I knew she was sick. I didn't know _how_ sick she was, but I knew she wasn't 100%.

"I was home by myself for hours. It got to night time and I got scared. Uncle Victor didn't have a mobile back then, so I couldn't even call him to find out what was going on. Eventually he got home. Sometime around 11pm, I think. He called me downstairs and hugged me and apologised for leaving me alone for so long. He sat me down on his lap and explained to me that my Mum had cancer. He said they had found it a while ago, but they hadn't told me because they didn't want me to worry. I asked if she was going to get better and he explained that she wasn't going to. Said it was brain cancer and there was nothing they could do.

"I got angry. I cried, I shouted, I threw things. Then Uncle Victor just held me the rest of the night as I cried. Told me that we would be okay. That even though Mum was going to die, she would be in a better place. Told me that she loved me and that he loved me and that if we stuck together we could get through anything."

Naomi took a deep breath and wiped the tears that had been trickling down her cheeks the entire time she spoke. Emily noticed that she, too, had tears running down her face and brushed them away before waiting for Naomi to speak again. It was clear that it was getting harder for Naomi to speak, so Emily took her hand and gave it a little squeeze. Naomi squeezed back before letting go of Emily's hands and started fiddling with the corner of the bed sheet instead.

"Five months later Mum died." Naomi whispered. "She was able to stay at home right up till a couple of days before she died, which was good. It wasn't until the last month that she got really bad. But at the end she was terrible. She couldn't speak. I don't know if she really knew what was going on. She always seemed confused. She didn't seem much like my Mum anymore. Which was so hard, but I think maybe made it a little bit easier when she died. Because it wasn't sudden. I knew it was going to happen. I guess I had kind of made my peace with it. Said goodbye. You can never be fully prepared for the death of a loved one, but I think I was as ready for it as I could be.

"We had a pretty small funeral. We didn't have any family and we didn't know that many people. Uncle Victor spoke at the funeral. It was nice. Just talked about what a great person she was and how she would be missed. We buried her at a cemetery not far from the house. There was no wake or anything. It was just the funeral, the burial and then we went home.

"Uncle Victor went straight to his room when we got home. He hardly left the room for days. I lived off peanut butter sandwiches for almost a week. When the bread ran out I was left just eating crackers. When they ran out I finally went to Uncle Victor's room and asked if I could have some money to go to the shops to buy some food. I think he realised that he needed to get his act together a bit and look after me. He went to the shops and bought some food. That night we ate dinner together. He explained to me that he and Mum had arranged for him to have custody of me when she died. They had tried to track down my Dad but weren't able to."

Naomi took a deep breath. It was clear that it was getting hard for her to keep talking.

"Things were okay for a while. I mean it was shit because Mum was gone. But Uncle Victor was good. He still took me to school everyday. He cooked for us and cleaned and went to work. I was at home by myself a bit more often but that didn't really bother me. I guess about six month after Mum died, Uncle Victor suggested I change my last name to Mason – his last name. He said it would make us real family. I agreed. I just wanted anything to have a family again. If changing my last name made that happen then I would do it. So we had my last name legally changed. And somehow it did make us feel more like a family. I know that a last name shouldn't really make a difference, but it did. Uncle Victor even told me that I could call him Dad if I wanted to. I never did call him Dad, but I pretty much thought of him as my Dad. When my school teachers referred to him as my father I never bothered to correct them. When people called me his daughter, he never told them I wasn't.

"But a while later… It was around the one-year anniversary of Mum's death… Things started to go wrong. I walked home from school one afternoon and no one was home, which was pretty normal for a school day. But then Uncle Victor didn't get home at five like he normally did. He used to help me do my homework every night before dinner but I did it myself that night. I made myself a sandwich when I got hungry. Had a bath, which I wasn't supposed to do when no one else was home. I brushed my teeth and hopped in to bed but just lay there for hours, not able to sleep.

"Eventually I heard him come in around midnight. I hopped out of bed and went downstairs to see why he was so late. He was completely drunk, bumping in to things and swearing. I asked why he was so late. He said that he had been out trying to forget. I asked him what he was trying to forget. He said my Mum. I didn't understand why he would try and forget her. That was the last thing I wanted. I was so scared of forgetting her. When I got home from school in the afternoons I used to go to her old room and stand in front of her wardrobe, just breathing in her smell. Sometimes when I had nightmares I used to go and sleep in her big bed. It wasn't the same without her there, but the smell just made me feel safe. I had taken one of her old t-shirts and I used to wear it to bed as a nighty."

Naomi swallowed loudly and took another deep, shuddering breath. She was still fiddling with the corner of the bed sheet, unable to look Emily in the eye. Emily was watching Naomi, waiting for her to continue.

"So I'm downstairs, wearing my Mum's old shirt, trying to figure out why he wanted to forget my Mum. He told me that I look so much like her. I thanked him, stupidly, thinking it was supposed to be a compliment. He just looked at me with disgust, said that he didn't want to see anything that reminded him of her. He… He grabbed me by the arm and practically dragged me upstairs. Shoved me in to my room and slammed the door shut. I fell forward. Smacked my head on the chest of drawers. Ended up with a huge lump on my head for days. I stayed awake crying for the rest of the night. Then got up and went to school in the morning. Uncle Victor didn't say a word to me all morning. If anyone at school noticed the lump on my head, none of them bothered to say anything. I was like that though. Easy to miss. Easy to ignore."

Naomi paused for a moment and wiped away the tears that were beginning to trickle down her cheeks again. She glanced up at Emily, who gave her an encouraging little smile and wiped away her own tears.

"That night it happened again." Naomi said, "I got home, did my homework by myself. Didn't have any dinner because we had no food. Just went straight to bed after I had finished my homework. This time when I heard him come in I just stayed in bed, trying to ignore the crashes and swearing. But then… he… he came in to my room."

When Naomi stopped talking, Emily reached over and placed a comforting hand on top of Naomi's. Naomi pulled her hand away and turned her face away so that Emily couldn't see the tears that were now streaming down her face.

"Naomi, if it's too hard or you don't want to share anymore, that's okay. Just whatever you're comfortable with." Emily said.

"No. I want… I need to do this." Naomi replied.

"Okay. Well whenever you're ready then." Emily said, patting Naomi's knee.

"So… Uncle Victor… He… He came in to my room. I sat up in bed and he just… He just slapped me. I had no idea why; I just took it, figuring he must have some reason for hurting me. The he slapped me again and started shouting at me. Told me that I look like my Mum and that I was stupid and I was such a burden for him. He just kept shouting and slapping me. I just sat there, cowering on the bed, letting him do it. Eventually he stopped. It had probably only been a couple of minutes, but it felt like fucking ages. He left the room and I stayed on my bed. I didn't cry. I didn't sleep. Just sat there. When the sun started to come up I got dressed and wrote a note saying that I had left for school early to use the library before class. I didn't go to school though. I just wandered the streets all day, avoiding people. They may not have noticed the day before, but I knew they wouldn't be able to ignore that half my face was purple.

"After that it was the weekend. By Monday the bruises had gone down enough for me to go to school without people noticing them. Then that night he hit me again. On the stomach this time, though. They hurt more, but were easy enough to hide. It went on like that for about a month. I'd come home from school, do my homework. If we had some food I'd make myself some dinner. If we didn't have any food, I would just go straight to bed. Then Victor would come in drunk and start hitting me. If it was on my body then I would go to school the next day. If it was on my face I would skip.

"Then on the last day of term, I came home from school and left my report card on the table. I had failed most of my classes. The ones I had passed, I had only just scraped through. When he came home, he came up to my room and threw the report card at me. He asked me when had I become so stupid. I tried to explain that I was struggling in school because he hadn't been helping me with my homework. He just got angry and hit me harder than he ever had before. I could hardly move the next morning."

Naomi glanced up when she heard Emily sniffle. "Sorry." Emily apologised. "It's just… You…" Emily let out a sigh. "You never deserved any of that stuff that happened to you. I'm sorry that you had to go through that."

Naomi didn't know what to say, so she just looked down to her lap.

"After that it was holidays so I didn't have to try and hide it. But it just got worse. He would hit me every night. And bad… harder than he had before. And then… One night… One night-" Naomi's voice broke as she tried to continue. Emily reached over to take her hand and this time Naomi let her. Naomi took a deep breath and mustered every ounce of strength she had left in her to get the next bit out.

"He came in to my room, but this time… Instead of just shouting at me and hitting me… He… He started to take his clothes off."

Emily squeezed Naomi's hand as she realised where the story was going.

"He told me to take my Mum's t-shirt off and I said no, so he hit me and then just ripped the shirt off me. And then he… he… he hopped in to my bed and he…" Naomi stopped talking as the tears continued to pour down her cheeks.

Emily pulled her in to a hug and Naomi sobbed, once again, in to Emily's shirt. Emily just rocked her, and held her and whispered in her ear. She kissed the top of her head and rubbed her back, her own tears running in to Naomi's hair.

Eventually they both stopped crying and they just sat together, snuggled up.

"Thank you for listening." Naomi whispered, taking hold of one of Emily's hands.

"Thank you for trusting me enough to tell me." Emily replied, squeezing Naomi's hand softly. "Do you want to share anymore tonight, or leave it there?"

"There's not a whole lot more to share. I'm sure you have some questions you want to ask though." Naomi said.

"Well yeah, but we don't have to do it tonight. We go at your rate."

"No, it's okay. You can ask them."

"Okay. Well first, and you can choose not to answer this if you don't want to… these scars on your arms," Emily started, lightly tracing her finger over the thin white lines that covered Naomi's wrists, "What are they from?"

"I think you can probably guess." Naomi said.

"I think I can too, but if you're ready, I'd rather you tell me."

Naomi swallowed and thought for a moment about what to say.

"When I was about 15 I started cutting myself. Nothing bad… Just scratches really. I really hated myself and my life and cutting was just a way for me to release all the anger and frustration that I was keeping inside."

"Naoms, these scars are not just from scratches." Emily said.

"Mm. Well, as I kept doing it, I started doing it a bit worse. The longer it went on, the more I hated myself, the more I hated myself, the harder I hurt myself. Vicious cycle. Eventually it all got too much. Victor would hit me every night and then he would… he would force me to have sex with him. And every night when he was done I would cut myself. I used to go out drinking and taking all kinds of drugs. It was easier to put up with whatever Victor did to me if I was stoned or drunk. I'd sneak in to clubs and fuck with any random who wanted to. Anything to numb the pain a bit."

"Was it only ever cutting? Or did it get more serious than that?" Emily asked.

Naomi was silent for a while, not sure how to say the next part.

"You don't have to talk anymore if you don't want to." Emily said.

"No, it's okay. I just don't know the best way to say it."

"Just say it whatever way you can." Emily said, holding Naomi a bit tighter.

"Okay. Well one night I was at this club. I had a fake ID so I was always able to get in to any clubs I wanted. I was 17. Final year of college. I was in this club and I was completely off my face on MDMA and vodka. I started making out with this guy on the dance floor, as was my routine. Get smashed, make out with whoever wanted me and fuck him or her in the bathroom.

"So I was making out with this guy and he led me off to the toilets and pushed me in to a cubicle and started feeling me up. He started getting a bit rough and I told him to back off a bit. I needed to be in control. But he wouldn't. He just shoved me against the wall and told me to shut up. He pulled up my dress and ripped my underwear. I tried to push him away but he just hit me and told me to stop struggling. He was too strong for me. Anyway, he… well… He raped me. And then just left." Naomi spoke with no emotion in her voice. She wasn't crying, but Emily could tell the tears were just below the surface.

"I sat on the toilet, dress ripped, and it kind of just hit me how shit my life was. I hated myself, I hated Victor, I hated all the people that I fucked. The reason that I had mindless fucks with people was to get some control. Sex was never a big deal to me. It wasn't anything special. It was a way of showing that you were in control and getting a necessarily release. But in minutes, this guy had just taken all that from me. He became the exact thing I was trying to get away from. So I sat in that toilet cubicle, crying my eyes out, coming down horribly from the drugs and alcohol. And I just pulled a blade out of my purse and started cutting myself. I didn't want to be alive anymore. I had no family, no friends. Not a single person that cared about me. I was acing college, but nobody ever noticed. I took some pills that I had in my purse and downed the rest of the bottle of vodka I'd been carrying around with me. And I slit my wrists.

"The next thing I remember was waking up in hospital a few days later. Apparently one of the bartenders had seen me go in to the toilets with that guy. Then he saw the guy come out without me and when I didn't come out a while later, he went in to the toilets to check if I was okay. He saw the blood spilling out from under the door and apparently jumped the cubicle and unlocked the door and called an ambulance. He rode to the hospital with me stayed by my side the whole time. He was there when I woke up. He explained that I had almost died and that they had to pump my stomach. He said it was a miracle that I had lived, because if I hadn't died from blood loss, I should have died from the amount of alcohol and drugs I had taken.

"He stayed at the hospital with me for days. Eventually they sent me home and he gave me his number so I could call him. But I never did. I can't even remember his name. I didn't do friends, and I definitely didn't do boyfriends. So when I got home, Victor was waiting for me. He knew I had been in hospital but he hadn't bothered visiting me. He gave me a hell of a beating that night. I just lay there and took it. The bartender guy had convinced me that it was time to sort out my shit and get a hold on my life. So even though I couldn't do anything about Victor, I could sort myself out. I stopped drinking and stopped taking the drugs. It was hard, but I did it. I kept focussing on college and graduated with straight A's."

"You could have done something though, Naoms. You could have moved out."

"No I couldn't. I wanted more than anything to go to university. And I knew the only way I would be able to afford to go would be if I stayed at home. I decided that after so many years, I could put up with Victor for a couple more, if it meant that I would be able to go to uni and get myself a good job and make a good life for myself."

"That's horrible." Emily said. "I can't imagine being out in a position like that. I'm so sorry that you had to."

"It's okay." Naomi shrugged.

"No, it's not okay. It's not okay at all. No one deserves to be treated like that."

"It wasn't so bad after. I knew that I was working toward something. I felt like I had some purpose. It made it easier to put up with. Was there anything else you wanted to know?" Naomi asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable with Emily's pity. She hated it when people pitied her.

"These scars here…" Emily said, lightly touching five or six small, circular scars on Naomi's wrist, "What are these ones from?"

"Um, there was a few times… when Victor was going to have sex with me… when he would burn me with a cigarette until I told him that I wanted to have sex with him."

Emily let out a gasp at Naomi's words.

"He only had to do it a few times. It hurt so much that it wasn't long before I just started telling him straight away that I wanted to have sex with him, so that he wouldn't burn me."

"He used to beat you and then force you to ask for sex?" Emily said, clearly outraged.

Naomi nodded.

"That tosser! That absolute fucking cunt!" Emily said angrily, trying not to talk so loudly that she would wake up Zack and Mia.

"Emily, it's okay." Naomi said, pulling away from Emily slightly. "He had a lot of issues. He was dealing with all sorts of-"

"No, Naomi, don't you dare make excuses for him!" Emily said. "He may have been going through a lot, but that is no reason to take it all out on you. Clearly, he's fucked up but what he did to you is _not_ okay and he never should have been able to get away with that."

Naomi said nothing, just stayed sitting slightly away from Emily. Emily, sensing Naomi's discomfort, pulled her back in to her side and decided to just move on to her next question.

"So you definitely deserve to have at least a few decent cries about all this, but why tonight? Did something happen to trigger this off?" She asked.

Naomi said nothing, just reached over to the bedside table and picked up her i-Phone. She passed it to Emily, who pressed the little circle button to light the screen up. Emily looked at the phone and saw that there was a text message that Naomi had received a couple of hours earlier.

'_Naomi,'_ the text said, _'your business trip has been long enough. Be home by the end of the weekend. Love, Uncle Victor'_

"What is this about?" Emily asked, confused.

"Exactly what it says. He wants me home by the end of the weekend."

"You still live with him?"

Naomi nodded.

"I thought you meant you moved out when you started uni." Emily said.

"I planned to. I was offered a place at Goldsmith's in London, but he wouldn't let me go. So I just went to the local university. And he made me stay and live with him."

"Why didn't you just move out?"

"I tried. But every time I tried he would just hurt me until I agreed to stay."

"But he let you come here?"

Naomi nodded. "I told him that work was sending me here for a couple of days. He agreed that I could come, as long as I came home after a week. But now he's starting to get angry because I have been here so long."

"Is that why you said you didn't need to go home when we offered you the job?"

Naomi nodded again. "I knew if I went back I would just end up getting stuck there again. He would never let me leave. So I decided that while I was here, I'd better stay."

"So what will he do if you're not back by the end of the weekend?"

Naomi shrugged. "Probably come to Bristol and try to find me."

"Does that scare you?"

"More than anything. I don't think I could cope if he came here and made me go back to Manchester with him."

"I won't let him do that." Emily said. "You can stay here as long as you want, you're not going back there. I don't care if Cook has to fight him off with a stick, we won't let him near you again."

The two sat quietly on the bed for a while, both quite exhausted from their emotional talk.

"Thanks Emily." Naomi said after a bit.

"What for?" Emily asked.

"Just being here. Listening to me. Understanding. Letting me stay here. Everything."

"You're welcome." Emily said, "That's what friends do. They talk and they listen and they're there when someone needs them. That's just how it works."

"Yeah, well the whole 'friend' thing is kind of new to me, so thanks."

Emily didn't say anything to that, just ran her finger lightly up and down Naomi's arm.

"Will you stay in here tonight?" Naomi asked quietly a while later.

"Of course, if you want me to." Emily replied.

"I do want you to."

Emily snuggled a bit further down the bed and rested her head on the pillows. Naomi snuggled in as well, lying down next to Emily, but further down in the bed. She curled her body up against Emily's and rested her head on Emily's stomach. Emily reached an arm down and wrapped it around Naomi's shoulder, reaching her other hand down to find Naomi's. She intertwined their fingers and softly stroked the back of Naomi's hand with her thumb.

It wasn't long before Emily felt Naomi's breathing start to even out and the blonde fell asleep, Emily dozing off not long after.

* * *

Naomi woke, hours later, to the most perfect view of the most perfect, naked legs she had ever seen. It took her a few moments to realise where she was. The memories of the night before came rushing back to her: The message she had received from her uncle, telling Emily all about her past. Everything. For the first time ever she had told someone about everything she had been through growing up. She was slightly surprised to realise that she actually felt better for telling Emily about it. She had always thought that talking was over-rated. People only ever told her that it would make her feel better because they were nosey and just wanted to hear all about her deep dark past. But it had been different with Emily. She knew that Emily didn't care what the story was; all she wanted to do was help her.

And now here she was, cuddled up with Emily in bed, staring down at Emily's smooth legs. One leg was straight out; the other was bent slightly at the knee. Naomi couldn't help but let her eyes drift further up Emily's leg, past her knee and over her perfectly toned thigh. She glimpsed what appeared to be a tattoo on the inside of Emily's upper thigh, but before she could move to see what it was, she felt Emily's hand begin to stroke her hair.

"You awake?" Emily's huskier-than-normal voice whispered.

"Yeah." Naomi mumbled. "How did you know?"

"Felt your breathing change." Emily said.

_Did you notice me perving at your legs as well?_ Naomi thought.

Naomi sat up and smiled down at Emily. "What's the time?"

"Half eleven."

"Jesus. Are you serious?"

"Yep. You were out of it." Emily replied. "Cook came in before and you didn't even stir. He's taken the kids over to JJ and Lara's for the day. So I figured we could stay here and have a bit of a sleep in."

"I haven't slept this long in… well, ever." Naomi said, settling down on the pillows next to Emily, so that their shoulders were just touching.

"Well you obviously needed it then." Emily said. "How are you feeling today?"

"Okay." Naomi said. "I have a bit of a headache though."

"I'm not surprised. Last night was intense. Want me to go get you some aspirin?"

"Nah, that's okay. I think I might just take a shower." Naomi said, sitting up and swinging her legs over the side of the bed.

"Good idea. You should take a bath. They always help me relax."

"A bath sounds nice. I think I might do that."

"You can use mine and Cook's bathroom if you like. The bath in there is nicer than the other bathroom."

"Oh that's okay. I'm fine with a normal bath."

"No, really, I insist. It's bigger and there are water jets and there's a bigger selection of bubbles and salts and stuff."

"Okay, thanks." Naomi said, following Emily out of the room and in to the Emily and Cook's bedroom.

Emily showed her in to the ensuite bathroom and showed her where the towels were kept. "Bubbles and everything are on the shelf there. Help yourself to whatever you want. The knobs on the side are to adjust the pressure of the jets. So enjoy and relax and I'll be downstairs whenever you're done." Emily said, leaving the bathroom and closing the door behind her.

Naomi keyed in the temperature that she wanted the water to be and turned on the tap. She added some bubbles and stripped off her pyjamas as she waited for the bath to fill. She climbed in to the bath and settled back against the edge, resting her head against the cushioned headrest. She turned her head to the side and saw an i-pod dock with a nano attached. She wasn't sure whose it was, but she switched it on and pressed play. The gentle sounds of Amos Lee came at her from all directions.

_Jesus, surround sound in the bathroom…_ Naomi thought to herself as she settled back down.

When the bath was full, she turned off the tap and turned the knobs to turn the jets on. Leaving them on low, she settled back down, enjoying the gentle pressure of the water.

After about 15 minutes she heard a soft knock on the door. "Naoms, it's me. Can I come in for a sec?" She heard Emily's voice call through the door.

"Uh sure." Naomi said, sliding further down in the bath to make sure the bubbles covered her completely. She moved her arms self consciously to cover her breasts anyway.

Emily opened the door slowly and poked her head inside. "Sorry, I just took a shower but I realised that my moisturiser and toothbrush were in here…"

"Oh, that's fine." Naomi said, nodding her head slightly, indicating that it was okay for Emily to come in.

Emily stepped inside and Naomi felt her mouth open slightly when she noticed that Emily was wearing nothing but a bra and a little pair of knickers. Naomi spotted a belly button piercing and some more ink on Emily's ribs, but Emily moved too fast for Naomi to see what it was. Emily crossed to the sink and opened the mirror cupboard, pulled out a bottle of moisturiser and squirted some on to her hand, her back to Naomi.

Emily rubbed the moisturiser over her stomach and chest and down her arms. Then she bent over and started rubbing some on to her legs. Naomi bit her lip as she got the perfect view of Emily's bum and legs.

Emily smiled as she looked past her own legs, still bent over, and spotted Naomi staring at her.

"Perving on me now, are we Naoms?" She said cheekily, straightening up again.

"What? No! I was just… I was… No." Naomi said lamely. Emily laughed.

"Admit it Naomi. You think I'm sexy." Emily teased, watching Naomi in the mirror

Naomi just blushed red and turned her head to look straight in front of her.

Emily smiled slightly at Naomi's reaction. "So was I right? Is that not the best bath you've ever had?"

"You were definitely right." Naomi agreed. "This is, without doubt, the most incredible tub I have ever had the pleasure of soaking in."

"Good. Well take your time and when you're done we can decide what to do for the rest of the day." Emily said, leaving the bathroom.

Naomi stayed in the bath for close to an hour, until her fingers and toes had gone all wrinkly. She climbed out and towelled off before applying moisturiser and throwing her hair in to a scruffy ponytail. She walked back to her room and rummaged through her suitcase for some clothes. She found some old trackies that were ripped in the knee and pulled on the t-shirt she had worn to bed. _Jesus, I really need some knew clothes_, she thought to herself and she wandered back downstairs to find Emily.

Emily looked up as Naomi entered the lounge room and patted the seat next to her. Naomi sat on the sofa beside Emily, tucking one leg underneath her.

"Looks like someone needs some knew clothes." Emily observed, poking Naomi on the knee through the frayed hole in her pants.

"Tell me about it." Naomi said.

"Feel like going shopping?"

"Don't really have the money at the moment." Naomi admitted.

"Money is not an issue." Emily said, smiling at Naomi.

"No, I'm not letting you buy me stuff." Naomi argued.

"You don't have a choice. Go upstairs, get changed and we're going." Emily said shoving Naomi slightly.

"No, I'm serious Emily, I don't need you to buy me stuff. I'll go shopping in a couple of weeks when I have some spare cash."

"Naomi, shut up and just accept it. We're going shopping and I'm getting you some knew stuff. No arguments."

Naomi looked at Emily and raised an eyebrow as if to ask if Emily was kidding.

"No, I'm not kidding. Upstairs now! We leave in ten minutes."

* * *

Three hours later, Emily and Naomi arrived back at the apartment at the exact moment as Cook, Zack and Mia.

"Jesus, looks like you girls had a good afternoon then." Cook said, observing the many bags that Naomi and Emily were carrying.

"Emily insisted." Naomi said. It was true. Emily had practically forced Naomi to let her buy her a new pair of jeans, a pair of track pants, a couple of shirts, some new clothes for work, a jacket and a pair of shoes. And she had forced Naomi to try on much more than that.

"Hey, I'm not complaining. I do expect a fashion parade later though. And I hope you've both brought yourselves some nice lingerie." Cook joked.

Naomi turned bright red. "Fuck off, Cook." Emily said.

Zack turned to look at Emily, shocked.

"Ah, watch your language now Aunty Emsy." Cook said sarcastically. "Can't talk like that in front of the kiddies."

"He's right you know." Zack said matter-of-factly. "Mummy told me that if I said that word then Santa wont bring me any presents this year."

"Uh-oh." Emily said dramatically.

"It's okay, if you appologise and promise not to ever say it again then he will still come."

"Oh, thank goodness." Emily said before turning to face Cook. "Uncle Cook, I'm very sorry I said that and I promise to never, ever say that word again."

"That's okay, you're forgiven." Cook answered, "C'mon Zack-attack, I bet I can get to the door before you can!"

Zack raced off through the corridor after Cook, leaving Emily with Mia and Naomi, who had an amused smile on her face.

"You get used to the crazy things they make you do and say pretty quick." Emily said.

"You and Cook seem to be naturals at it."

"Well Cook always has been but believe me, it took a long time for me to be comfortable acting stupid with the kids."

"I think it'll take me a while to get used to it."

"I think you're already better at it than you think you are."

Emily, Naomi and Mia walked in to the apartment and Emily closed the door behind her.

"What time is Cook's brother coming over?" Naomi asked.

"Cook's going to go and pick him up in just a minute. Then we'll have dinner and me, Cook, Zack and Paddy are going to the movies. And I know you said last night that you would stay home and look after Mia, but if you don't feel like that anymore, that's more than fine."

"No, I'm still happy to do it." Naomi said. "I'm actually rather looking forward to it."

"You sure?"

"Of course I'm sure. You might just need to tell me what I have to, that's all…"

"Don't worry, it's pretty simple. After dinner you pretty much just hang out with her until she starts to act sleepy. Then just change her nappy and put her in her pyjamas, brush her teeth and put her to bed. She knows the drill anyway, she's normally pretty good with it."

An hour later, they were all sitting around the dining table eating dinner.

"Paddy, Naomi's staying in your room so do you want to sleep on the sofa in Emily's office or put a mattress on the floor in Zack and Mia's room?" Cook asked Paddy as they ate.

"The floor in Zack and Mia's room." Paddy said.

"Righto. I'll set it up for you before we leave so that it will be ready when we get home tonight."

"Thanks Cook."

"No worries little man."

"How's school going, Paddy?" Emily asked.

"It's okay. But my teachers are all fucking tossers!"

"Hey!" Cook said angrily.

"Sorry Cook." Paddy said shamefully. Naomi could tell that Paddy looked up to Cook a lot.

"What's wrong with your teachers?" Cook asked, the protective older brother side coming out.

"Well Mr Morgan put me in detention yesterday because I pushed Henry, but I only pushed Henry because he punched me first. And Henry didn't even get told off or anything!"

"Well did you do something to make Henry punch you in the first place?"

"I called him a tosser."

"Paddy, for the last time, stop saying that in front of the kids!"

"Sorry."

"Why did you call him that anyway?"

"He said that Mum was a slut because she gave his older brother a blow job and she has a new fuck buddy every week."

"Paddy!" Cook and Emily both cried at the same time.

"Sorry!"

* * *

"So, you know everything you need to know then?" Emily asked Naomi a while later as she pulled on her jacket and got ready to leave for the movies with Cook, Zack and Paddy.

"Think so. Nappy, pyjamas, teeth, bed."

"Very good. She'll probably start getting tired around eight, but you can put her down whenever you feel like it."

"No worries. I'll see you later. Have fun at the movies."

"We will. I'll keep my phone on vibrate so call me if there's anything you need."

"Thanks, we'll be fine though."

"Okay, let's go, let's go!" Cook said excitedly, pushing past Emily and Naomi and out the door, a hyped up Zack and Paddy following behind him.

"Okay, see you in a couple of hours." Emily said, giving Mia a kiss and following the boys out.

Naomi closed the door behind them and turned to face Mia, who was staring up at her.

"So… What do you feel like doing tonight then?" She asked the two-year-old.

Mia just continued to stare silently at Naomi.

"What's that, a movie? Yeah, that's just what I was thinking." Naomi said, picking up Mia and carrying her in to the lounge room.

Two hours later, Emily and Cook walked in to the house, Cook carrying a sleeping Zack in his arms.

"Head on upstairs, Paddy, and brush your teeth and change in to your rammies. I'll be up in a minute to say goodnight." Emily told Paddy, who followed Cook up the stairs.

Emily walked in to the lounge room and smiled when she saw Naomi fast asleep on the sofa, an also sleeping Mia cuddled in to her side. The main menu screen of Finding Nemo was on the television, the voices of Marlin and Dory speaking out in to the silent room. Emily walked to the sofa and gently picked up Mia, careful not to let her wake up. Holding Mia in one arm, Emily pulled a blanket off the back of the sofa and gently draped it over Naomi.

As Emily stepped away, she heard Naomi stir. She looked back to see Naomi sit up, rubbing her eyes.

"You home already?" Naomi asked, clearly not realising the time.

"Yep. Cook's upstairs putting Zack to bed. I was just about to put Mia down."

"How was your movie?"

"Surprisingly funny, actually. Cook reckons he's going to take you to see it sometime. He says you'll love it." Emily said, walking toward the stairs.

"I guess I failed my first babysitting gig then, huh?" Naomi said, following Emily upstairs and nodding toward the sleeping child.

"On the contrary, I'd say this is a great success. If you can get the child you're babysitting to fall asleep at all, it's automatically considered a success."

Emily walked in to the kids room and placed Mia in her cot, not bothering to change her in to her pyjamas. She gave Zack a kiss goodnight and said goodnight to Paddy, turned off the lamp and closed the door. She walked back out in to the hall right as Naomi was leaving the bathroom, teeth freshly cleaned.

"Off to bed?" Emily asked.

"Yep, I think I need an early one tonight." Naomi said.

"Me too." Emily agreed. "Thanks for a great day today."

"No, thank you. And thanks for getting me all that stuff. You really didn't need to. And I promise I will pay you back when I get the money."

"No, Naomi, I don't want to hear anymore about it."

Naomi rolled her eyes. "Lets not have this argument again."

"Fine." Emily said, pulling Naomi in to a hug. Naomi wrapped her arms around Emily's back and held her close for a moment, her face buried in Emily's bright red hair. Without thinking, she took a deep breath, breathing in Emily's smell, then realised what she had done and hoped Emily hadn't noticed.

She pulled away in a hurry. "Goodnight Emily." Naomi said, walking to her bedroom.

"'Night Naoms. Sweet dreams." Emily replied, smiling at Naomi. Naomi smiled back before disappearing in to her room and closing the door behind her. She turned off the light and climbed in to bed, unable to stop her brain from focussing on Emily.

_What am I getting myself in to?_ She thought to herself, as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

**Review?**


	8. Chapter 7

**Thanks for the reviews for the last chapter. My heart smiles every time I get one :) is that lame?**

**Anyway, here's chapter 7. Just a word of warning that it ends in a strange place because I have decided whether I want this chapter to carry on to the next one or not... But I hope you enjoy it regardless of the awkward ending... :)**

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* * *

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**Chapter 7**

"Cook, do you know where I put my keys?" Emily called through to the kitchen where Cook, Naomi, Zack and Mia were eating their breakfast.

"No idea love." Cook called back, but Emily could hear the laughter in his voice. She could also hear Zack and Naomi giggling along with him. Walking in to the kitchen, she saw Cook standing at the stove, childlike smile on his face. She looked at Naomi and saw that she was struggling to keep a straight face. She looked at Zack, who was practically falling out of his seat from laughing so much.

"Zachary Mitchell Griffiths, what have you done with my keys?" She asked, walking over to him and poking him lightly in the ribs, causing him to shriek with laughter.

"Nothing!" He cried through the laughing.

"I don't believe you. You have until the count of three to tell me where you put them or I am going to tickle you like you have never been tickled before."

Zack looked up at Emily and mimed zipping his lips closed.

"One… Two… Last chance, Zack…"

Zack just smiled, his lips tightly closed.

"Three… Right that's it!" Emily grabbed him and threw him over her shoulder, tickling him on his back where she knew it always got him.

"No stop!" Zack cried breathlessly through the laughter. "Stop, please! Uncle Cook, Help! Help me!"

Cook came over and wrapped his arms around Emily from behind, tickling her on her stomach.

"No, Cook, get off!" Emily put Zack down on the ground before she dropped him and tried to dodge away from Cook, but he was too quick for her. He picked her up and threw her over his shoulder, much like she had done with Zack and he carried her out of the kitchen and in to the lounge room. He threw her on the sofa and straddled her hips, pinning her arms above her head so that Zack could tickle her under her arms.

"Get off! Please!" She cried, struggling underneath Cook. "Stop!"

Finally Cook and Zack stopped tickling her and she was able to sit up on the sofa. Straightening her shirt and smoothing her hair, she looked over at Naomi, who was holding Mia in her arms and laughing.

"Hey, just because you're not my boyfriend and/or my niece or nephew, doesn't mean I won't tickle you as well." Emily warned Naomi, which just caused Naomi to laugh even more.

"Now if someone would kindly tell me where my keys have been hidden, I'll be off to the airport to pick up Katie and Ben."

"But I don't want them to come home yet. I want to stay here for longer." Zack whined.

"Too bad, Zacky-boy. Aunty Emsy and I are kicking you out." Cook joked. Zack pouted.

"Zack you can come and stay over again another time soon. But your Mummy and Daddy are looking forward to seeing you, so you have to go home with them today. Aren't you exited to see them?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, but it's fun here."

"You have fun at home too. And you can always come and visit here anyway. Now where are my keys?"

Zack crossed the room to where his school bag sat in the corner. He unzipped it, reached in and pulled out Emily's keys.

"Thank you very much." Emily said, taking the keys from him. "Now I'll be back in a while. Naomi, do you want a lift to work on the way?"

"No, that's fine, I'll walk today. Thanks anyway."

"You sure?"

Naomi nodded.

"Okay. Zack, Mummy said you can have the day off school today if you want to so that you can see her and Daddy when they get back. Sound good?"

Zack started running and jumping around the room, shouting about not having school.

"I'll take that as a 'Yes that sounds good'." Emily said, heading toward the door. "I'll be back in a while. Naomi, see you tonight after work."

* * *

"Oh my goodness." Naomi said, stepping in to the silent apartment after work. "I don't think I have ever heard this place so quiet."

"I know, right?" Emily said, passing Naomi a glass of champagne the second Naomi had put her bag down. "So to celebrate having a house that isn't run by children, Cook is making some Indian dish for dinner that he says is going to be incredible and we have champagne and a movie that actually has really human people in it, instead of cartoons."

"Oh. Well actually, I kind of made plans to go out tonight." Naomi said sheepishly.

"Oh really? Who with?"

"Bunch of people from work. Effy asked if I wanted to go along and I said yes."

"Oh. Well that's fine. Have fun. Where are you going?"

"Some club in town. Can't remember what it's called. Effy said they go there a lot though."

"Oh yeah, I know the one. It can get a bit messy there though. Didn't think you'd be in to going somewhere like that."

"Well I wouldn't normally, but I thought I would tonight. Get out, make some new friends, give you and Cook some time to yourselves."

"Don't feel like you need to go out to give me and Cook space. We like having you here."

"It's not just that. I need to start making a bit of a life here for myself. I don't want this to just be like living in Manchester all over again."

"It won't be. But if you want to go out and have some fun, go for it. Enjoy yourself. But not too much." Emily said with a wink, before disappearing back in to the kitchen to help Cook.

* * *

An hour later Emily and Cook were just dishing up dinner for themselves when Naomi walked in to the kitchen.

"Holy fuck." Cook said as he looked up at Naomi. Emily looked up to see what Cook was looking at. Her mouth dropped open at the sight.

"Jesus Christ. You scrub up alright." She said.

"I'll say!" Cook said, causing Emily to whack him in the stomach. "Not as good as Emily though." He corrected himself.

"Uh, thanks." Naomi said shyly, adjusting her dress. "Is it too short?"

"Definitely not." Cook said. Emily shot him a look. "I'll just finish dinner off then." He said, turning around and busying himself with the dinner.

"What do you think?" Naomi asked Emily.

"I think you look incredible. And no, it's not too short."

"Why do you keep looking at me like that then?"

"No reason. I just never knew you had such incredible legs hidden beneath all those track pants and jeans, that's all."

Naomi blushed as Cook cleared his throat. "I can hear you, you know." He said.

"Well now you know how I feel every time you perve at girls." Emily retorted. "You need a lift anywhere?"

"No, I'm just going to get a taxi. Thanks anyway. You guys have a good night." Naomi said, putting her keys and phone in to her clutch.

"You too. Be safe." Emily said, standing on her tiptoes to peck Naomi on the cheek.

"Always." Naomi answered, leaving the apartment and closing the door behind her.

* * *

"Cook, that was delicious. You are definitely cooking more often." Emily groaned, rubbing her full tummy and settling back more comfortably on the sofa.

"Yep. Far better than anything you've ever cooked."

"Shut up. I grew up with Jenna Fitch as my mother, did you really expect me to turn out to be a great cook?"

"Nope. But I guess I better get used to her cooking. I'm working on their yard all next week, she's going to force me to eat all kind of disgusting stuff, isn't she?"

"Yep. I may even call her and request she make you some artichoke and beetroot soup."

A look of disgust spread across Cook's face. "Ugh, that was the worst! Why did we eat at their house so often when we were in college?"

"Because it was free food."

"True."

"Wanna watch a movie?" Emily asked.

"Sure. As long as I don't need to get up and put it on." Cook answered, patting his full belly.

"Meh, fuck it." Emily said, scooting closer to Cook and cuddling in to his side. "Lets just have a cuddle."

"A cuddle sounds good." Cook said, wrapping an arm around Emily and kissing her on top of the head.

Emily turned her head to look up at Cook and he pecked her on the lips and smiled down at her.

"I love you, Emily Fitch."

"I love you too, James Cook." Emily replied, twisting her body so that she was kneeling next to Cook, facing him. She leant in and kissed him in the lips, deeper this time. Cook pulled Emily closer to him and slipped his hand under Emily's shirt at the back.

They kissed for a few minutes and Emily manoeuvred her body so that she was straddling Cook's lap, one leg either side. She kissed down his neck as she began to undo the buttons on his shirt.

"Maybe we should… take this… upstairs." Cook mumbled between placing kisses on Emily's now naked shoulder. Emily mumbled her agreement and climbed off Cook's lap, allowing him to stand. As soon as he was standing he grabbed Emily and lifted her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he easily carried her up the stairs to the bedroom, bumping in to walls and doors as they went.

* * *

"That was incredible." Emily said breathlessly a couple of hours later as she and Cook lay in bed.

"I know. That's what happens when you hold out on me for a week." Cook said, huge smile on his face.

"Well if that's what happens, maybe I'll hold out on you more often." Emily teased.

"Nah, it wasn't _that_ worth it." Cook said, regretting the hole he had dug himself in to.

Emily moved closer to Cook and snuggled in to his side. "I'm fucking exhausted." She said through a yawn.

"Yeah, well it's been a long week." Cook replied. "Who knew looking after two kids for a week could be so tiring?"

"I know, I can't believe how-" Emily was interrupted as a loud bang broke through the silent house. "What was that?"

"No idea." Cook said, obviously not too concerned.

Emily climbed out of the bed and pulled on a big shirt of Cook's.

"Just leave it babe, it was probably just a door blowing shut or something." Cook said, watching as Emily pulled on some shorts, wishing she would come back to bed.

"That wasn't a door, it was too-" Emily was cut off again as the sound of something smashing, followed by another bang echoing around the house. "What the fuck?" Emily rushed from the room as Cook bolted out of bed and grabbed some clothes.

Emily rushed down the stairs and in to the entrance hall, where she could hear the sounds coming from. She stopped in her tracks when she saw a drunken Effy holding up an even drunker Naomi. There were shards from a smashed vase covering the floor and Naomi was giggling as she bumped in to the wall.

"What the fuck is going on?" Emily asked as Cook joined them, now wearing a pair of gray track pants and pulling a t-shirt over his head.

"What the fuck happened in here?" He asked.

"Naomi's had a little bit too much to drink." Effy slurred.

"You can say that again." Cook said as he slipped an arm around Naomi's waist and led her over to sit on the stairs.

"She's not the only one by the looks of it." Emily said, watching as Effy stumbled over to Naomi and sat down next to her.

Effy just giggled in response.

"What the fuck Eff? It's only ten thirty. How much have you had to drink?"

"We were having shots and then Naomi nicked a bottle of Vodka from behind the bar."

"Is that all you've had?" Emily asked, observing their dilated pupils.

"We shared a spliff too. And I think someone gave Naomi something when she went to the toilet because she's even more fucked up than I am." Effy said, clearly finding the whole situation hilarious.

"Jesus Christ Eff, Why did you let her have so much?" Emily asked angrily as Naomi slumped forward. Cook darted forward to catch her before she hit the ground.

"Jeez, chill out Ems, she's a big girl. I wasn't going to stop her." Effy slurred.

"No, Effy, you know that she's in a bad place at the moment."

"How should I have known if she was in a bad-"

"No, don't give me that shit Effy. You notice everything."

"Whatever. I thought she might want to go out and have some fun for once."

"Fine, take her out and have some fun. Don't get her trashed. You know better than anyone how much that shit can fuck you up!"

"I think… I think I'm gonna..." Naomi mumbled as she turned a sickly green colour and dashed in to the kitchen, helped by Cook. Emily heard a retching and hoped Cook had gotten Naomi to the sink or bin or anywhere else that would mean there was minimal cleaning to do on time.

Emily turned her attention back to Effy, who still had a smug smile on her face.

"It's not something to be proud of Effy!" Emily said, almost shouting at her friend now. "She's already going through a hard enough time without having drugs and alcohol forced upon her. And you've both got work in the morning and it's not going to be too fun for either of you with hangovers you're both going to have!"

"For fucksake Emily, relax a bit!" Effy said, standing to her feet unsteadily. "Just because you and Cook act like a 50-year-old married couple, doesn't mean the rest of us have to! And I didn't force her to drink or take anything! Freddie offered her spliff and she willingly took it, no one forced her too. She was the one that suggested we do shots, she was the one that stole the vodka and she was the one that took whatever she took in the bathroom. I'm not her fucking Mum and I'm not you! I'm not going to tell her what she can and can't do. It's her life, just let her live it!"

Emily stood, stunned for a moment at Effy's outburst. "First of all, just because me and Cook don't go out getting wasted every night, doesn't mean we are like an old married couple. Secondly, I realise that Naomi is an adult and can make decisions for herself, but that doesn't mean you should encourage her when she makes stupid ones. And thirdly, I never tell her what she can and can't do. All I do is treat her like a friend and look out for her, same as I do for you and Freddie and Panda and everyone else. But apparently caring for people other than yourself isn't a skill you've been able to master quite yet!" Emily shouted.

"Emily, relax." Cook said, walking back out in to the hall and resting his hand gently on Emily's back. Emily felt herself relax immediately. "Naomi's in the kitchen, you might want to help her get ready for bed. I'm going to drive Effy home." He said.

Emily nodded and took a step toward the kitchen.

"C'mon Eff, lets get you home." Emily heard Cook say to Effy as he carefully stepped past the broken glass that still covered the ground. "Ems, just leave this mess, I'll clean it up when I get home." He said to Emily.

Emily just nodded.

"Bye Ems. See you at work in the morning." Effy said to Emily as she followed Cook to the door.

Emily just nodded again.

"Oh and by the way?"

Emily looked up at Effy, silently inviting her to continue.

"After Naomi went to the toilets she said she didn't want to be there any longer. She was going to walk home by herself but I said I would call a taxi and come with her because I didn't want her to go alone. I knew she was too wasted to get up here by herself so I thought I would help her. I'm sorry for breaking the vase. We didn't mean to. It fell off when Naomi bumped in to the table."

Again, Emily just nodded, letting Effy knew she understand but was clearly still pissed.

"C'mon Effykins, let's go." Cook said, holding out his arm for Effy to take and leading her out of the apartment.

Emily took a deep breath and puffed it out, looking at the mess around her. She turned to the kitchen when she heard a sob and walked in to find Naomi slumped in one of the kitchen chairs, tears dripping down her face.

"You okay?"

Naomi glanced up when she heard Emily speak but didn't answer.

"Feeling a bit better now?" Emily asked moving closer to Naomi and smoothing down her hair.

Naomi shrugged and leant in to Emily, resting her head against Emily's stomach. Emily wrapped an arm around Naomi and rubbed her shoulder for a moment before moving away and filling a glass of water and passing it to Naomi.

"Here, drink this." She said. Emily grabbed a pack of breath mints of the bench and passed the pack to Naomi. "And then have one of these, it'll make your mouth taste a bit better."

Emily sat in the seat next to Naomi and waited or her to finish the water and the mint. When Naomi was done, Emily stood up and Naomi did the same. Emily wrapped an arm around Naomi's waist and helped her walk out of the kitchen, up the stairs and in to Naomi's bedroom. Naomi sat down on the edge of the bed and Emily squatted down to take Naomi's shoes off for her. She then unzipped Naomi's dress and helped her pull it off over her head, surprised to find that Naomi was wearing nothing but a tiny thong under the dress.

"Jesus Christ." She said to herself as Naomi collapsed back on to the bed. "Oh, that's just going to have to do." She mumbled quietly, knowing that it would be impossible to get Naomi in to pyjamas in the state she was currently in.

"Hop in to bed then, I'll just go find you a bucket." Emily said, trying to look anywhere but at Naomi.

Emily left the room and returned a few minutes later, bucket in one hand, glass of water and a couple of aspirin in the other hand. She averted her eyes when she saw that, rather than hopping in to bed, Naomi has simply laid down on top of the duvet, still wearing nothing but her underwear.

Emily set the bucket down on the ground next to the bed and put the water and aspirin on the bedside table.

"C'mon, lets get you under the covers." Emily said, attempting to pull the blankets out from under Naomi, which proved quite difficult when Naomi was not helping at all and Emily was trying not to look.

"You're beautiful, you know that?" Naomi said, gazing up at Emily.

"Yeah, and you're drunk, you know that?" Emily said, still leaning over Naomi.

"I'm not _that_ drunk." Naomi said.

"Ah, yes you _are_ _that_ drunk." Emily replied, amused.

"Whatever. Drunk or sober, you're still fucking sexy." Naomi slurred, slowly running her hand up and down the back of Emily's thigh.

"Yeah, yeah, whatever you say." Emily said, finally untangling the blankets from underneath Naomi and attempting to ignore the hand now running rather high up her thigh.

_Ignore it,_ she told herself. _It's just the flirty ramblings of a drunken woman._

Emily pulled the blankets up over Naomi and carefully lifted Naomi's heavy head and moved it so that it was on the pillow. Just as she was about to pull away, Naomi turned her head and placed a soft kiss on the inside of Emily's wrist.

"Thanks Em." She mumbled, sleep beginning to take over.

"No problem." Emily replied, taking a step back. "There's a bucket right here in case you need it in the night."

Emily switched off the lamp and walked to the door. She was just about to leave the room when she heard Naomi whisper.

"Emily?"

Emily turned around to look at Naomi.

"Yeah?"

"Sorry for being such a dick tonight."

"That's okay. Just…"

"Just what?" Naomi asked.

"Nothing. Sweet dreams, Naoms." Emily said, leaving the room and closing the door behind her.

"Sweet dreams Ems." Naomi whispered in to the darkness.

Emily turned on the light to the landing in case Naomi needed to get up and use the bathroom in a hurry in the night and went back downstairs to clean up the broken vase. She picked up the big pieces and the found the dustpan and swept up all the little pieces. After chucking the whole lot in the bin, she went back upstairs, brushed her teeth and climbed in to bed.

Twenty minutes later Cook came in to the room. "Hey beautiful," He said as he walked in. "Didn't think you'd be in bed already."

"I'm tired." Emily replied.

Cook walked in to the ensuite bathroom and started brushing his teeth. "Effy said to say she's sorry." He said, poking his head back in to the bedroom.

"She already told me she was." Emily said.

"Yeah, well she asked me to tell you again." Cook called from the bathroom as he rinsed off his toothbrush. "You okay?" He asked when he walked back in to the bedroom.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Emily said defensively.

"You sure?" Cook asked, stripping off the track pants and t-shirt he had put on in a hurry not long before.

"I said I was fine!"

"Okay, jeez, just checking."

Emily rolled over in bed and faced toward the large French doors that led to the balcony. She mentally chastised herself for being so rude to Cook when all he was doing was making sure she was alright.

Cook climbed in to the bed and was surprised to see that Emily was still fully dressed. He snuggled in behind Emily and rested his hand on her hip, gently tracing his fingers down her thigh and back up again.

"Please don't, Cook." Emily said, removing Cook's hand from her leg, trying to ignore the fact that his hand was tracing the same track Naomi's had, not half an hour earlier.

Cook moved his hand from Emily's leg and instead just placed it in front of her belly, snuggling his have in to the back of Emily's neck.

"No, Cook, could you just get off please?" Emily said grumpily, pushing Cook's hand away again.

"Fucksake, what's up with you tonight?" Cook said, moving away from Emily.

"Nothing, I just want a bit of space, that's all."

"Fine." Cook said, placing a quick kiss on the back of Emily's head. "Goodnight then. I love you." Cook rolled over, turning his back on Emily and settled down comfortably in the big bed, put off by his girlfriend's sudden hostility.

Emily turned her head to look at Cook, regretting her words and actions. "I love you too." She whispered, hoping the words would cause Cook to roll back over and come closer to her again. A tear filled Emily's eye when Cook didn't respond and she settled her head back down on the pillow. The tears spilled over and trickled down her cheeks silently as she traced the place on her wrist that Naomi had kissed, wondering why it felt as though the imprint of Naomi's lips had been burnt on to her skin.

* * *

Emily woke early the next morning, despite the restless sleep she had had. Looking at the clock she saw that it was just gone half five. She wouldn't have to be up for another couple of hours yet. Knowing she wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, she climbed quietly of the bed, careful not to wake Cook. He had had a bad sleep as well. She knew because she had felt him tossing and turning on his side of the bed all night.

Emily crossed the room and slipped out to the balcony, grabbing Cook's pack of fags on the way out. She closed the door behind her and lit up a cigarette, leaning on the railing and looking down to the street below.

She wasn't sure why she had acted the way she did the night before. She had spent a great evening with Cook, but then cracked the shits at Effy when she and Naomi arrived home drunk. She knew it wasn't Effy's fault, but she couldn't help but resent the brunette for letting them both get so trashed. She didn't know why she had pushed Cook away in bed. She didn't know why she couldn't stop thinking about Naomi kissing her wrist and touching her leg and telling her she was beautiful. She knew it wasn't a big deal. Cook told her she was beautiful every day. And she had been told plenty of times by a plethora of other people as well. And she kissed her friends and her friends kissed her all the time. Besides, it was just a tiny peck.

_I've had bigger kisses from strangers_, She thought to herself as she lit up another cigarette.

_It was just an innocent peck from a drunken friend that wanted to say thanks_, Emily told herself. _It didn't mean a thing. _

_Then why can't you stop thinking about it?_

_Oh, fucksake, this is ridiculous!_ Emily thought. _We're friends, I'm her boss, she was drunk and none of it meant anything!_

Emily worked her way through a third cigarette, convincing herself that none of what happened the night before was a big deal. Finally convinced and full of guilt for the way she had treated Cook, she walked back inside and slipped underneath the warm blankets once again. She rolled on to her side and watched as Cook slept. _Bloody unattractive thing he is while he's sleeping,_ Emily thought to herself. Though, despite his messed up hair, his slightly open mouth and his quiet snores, she couldn't help but think how much she loved him. She smiled as one of his hands crept out from under the blanket and reached out to Emily's side of the bed, not quite touching her, but resting in the place she normally laid.

Emily watched Cook sleep for half an hour or so, until his eyes started to flicker open. He blinked a couple of times and looked emotionlessly at Emily, who stared right back, smile still on her face.

"Good morning." She said, taking one of his hands and kissing the back of it.

"Morning." Cook replied, rubbing his tired eyes.

"What was up with you last night?" He asked when Emily didn't say anything.

The smile dropped from Emily's face slightly. "I don't know. I'm sorry. I think I was just a bit tired and emotional."

"I wasn't expecting you to get emotional for another week and a half." Cook joked. Emily poked him in the stomach.

"I heard you crying before you fell asleep." Cook said, serious again.

"And you didn't even give a cuddle and wipe away my tears?" Emily joked and then immediately regretted what she said.

"Well I tried to cuddle you before and you pushed me away. Twice." Cook said. "I may not show emotion the same way as you do, but believe it or not, it does still hurt when I get rejected."

Emily bit her lower lip. "I'm sorry." She said quietly.

Cook shrugged as if to say it didn't matter. "Are you okay now though?"

Emily nodded. "Yeah, I'm fine. Was just having a bad night last night I guess."

Cook nodded to say he understood, though he was clearly still a bit pissed.

"I really am sorry, Cook." Emily said, feeling guilty.

Cook nodded again and sent a half-hearted smile Emily's way before rolling over on to his back.

Emily shuffled closer to him. "You know, it's only half six…" She said, propping herself up on one elbow. "Which means I still have an hour before I need to get up…" She sat up moved so that she was sat straddling Cook, one leg either side of his hips. "And I was kind of hoping that I could make it up to you for last night." She said, pulling her shirt over her head in one smooth motion leaving her completely topless.

A reluctant smile spread across Cook's face. "You, Emily Fitch, are evil, and manipulative, and impossible to resist." He said, sitting up so that his legs will still straight out in front of him, Emily still straddling him. He wrapped an arm around Emily and held her close, kissing her on the lips. Emily slipped her tongue in to Cook's mouth and deepened the kiss before pulling away slightly, keeping their foreheads resting together.

"I love you." She whispered, pecking him on the lips. "I love you so much."

"I love you too." Cook whispered back, running his fingers up and down Emily's spine.

"Really? Even though I'm such a bitch sometimes?"

"Really. I love you more than anyone or anything." He said, kissing her lightly on the lips. "I always will love you." He kissed her again. "Forever," Another kiss. "And ever," another kiss. "And ever."

Cook pressed his lips to Emily's harder this time, running his tongue along Emily's lip and requesting entrance. She opened her mouth and brushed her tongue along Cook's, pushing him back so that he was lying on his back and she was lying on top of him. She began to kiss down his neck and he rolled them over so that he was on top. Cook looked down at Emily and smiled genuinely at her.

"What?" she asked him.

"You're so beautiful." He said, causing Emily to smile as well. "I can't believe I was lucky enough to get you."

"Cook?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and make love to me." She said, lifting her head off the pillow and attaching their lips once again.

* * *

An hour and a half later, Emily was in the kitchen, freshly showered and dressed, sitting on Cook's lap, sharing some toast.

"You feeling alright about going to work?" He asked.

"Yeah. I wouldn't say I'm excited, but I'm not dreading it. It will be good to see JJ and Panda and everyone again. What are your plans for today?"

"I might go back to bed for another hour or so because I didn't get much sleep last night. My bitch of a girlfriend didn't give me a goodnight kiss and I couldn't sleep properly." Cook said, earning himself a playful slap from Emily. "And then this afternoon I will be going to your parents house to finalise the designs for their yard, seeing as we start working on it on Monday. And the rest of my day will be spent watching lame daytime TV and playing video games."

"Sounds productive."

"What, it's my last day of holidays!"

"I know, I think it's good. You deserve to have a relaxing day." Emily said, taking a sip of coffee. "Want to come and meet me for lunch? My treat…" Emily said, still feeling guilty for the way she had treated Cook the night before.

"Emily, you have done _more_ than enough to make it up to me." Cook said, "But if you felt like trying out that new Italian place by your work, I wouldn't say no."

"Italian it is." Emily said, kissing Cook and standing up. "I think I better go and wake Naomi up. We need to leave in half an hour."

"No need, I'm up." Naomi mumbled, walking in to the kitchen rubbing her eyes, hair all over the place, makeup smudged down her face.

"Wow, you like nice." Cook said sarcastically.

"Shut up." Naomi grunted at him.

"How are you feeling?" Emily asked, re-taking her place in Cook's lap.

"Like shit. But thanks for leaving the aspirin next to my bed." Naomi said, grabbing a mug and filling it with coffee. "I'm assuming it was you that left it there…?"

"Yep. Did you need the bucket as well?"

"No, I don't think I had anything left to throw up after vomiting in here…" Naomi said, plonking herself down at the table.

"I'm not surprised. I don't think I have ever experienced anyone throwing up that much in one go in my life." Cook said.

Naomi smiled slightly, clearly embarrassed. "Sorry about that. Thanks for helping me and cleaning me up though. And thanks for helping me get ready for bed, Emily." She said, blushing.

Emily remembered for the first time that morning that she had put Naomi to bed almost naked last night. She was wearing pyjama pants and a t-shirt now.

"No problem." Emily said, also blushing slightly.

Naomi placed her now empty coffee cup in the sink. "I'm gonna go take a shower. Emily, can I get a lift to work with you?"

"Yeah, sure." Emily said, opening the newspaper and beginning to read.

"What was with you two both turning bright red when Naomi mentioned you putting her to bed last night?" Cook asked once Naomi had left the room.

"What? Nothing." Emily said, trying to act innocently.

"Pfft, don't act like you don't know what I'm talking about. I could have toasted my bread on your face. What was it about?"

Emily looked at Cook. "If I tell you will you please never mention it again? She's clearly embarrassed about it."

"I promise. What happened?"

"It was nothing really. I was just helping her get ready for bed and I helped her take her dress off and she wasn't wearing much underneath." Emily said quickly.

Cook smiled cheekily. "What was she wearing?"

"A thong."

"And?"

"And that was it."

Cook's mouth dropped open slightly.

"Calm down Cook, it was not a big deal." Emily said, tapping Cook's chin to close his mouth. "She was too drunk to even know what was going on."

"Yeah, but still… I knew I should have left you to take Effy home."

"Whatever. I'm gonna go finish getting ready."

* * *

"Morning Emily!" JJ said as Emily walked in to the office. "Have a good break?"

"Yeah, it was great." Emily answered, passing JJ his usual order of an extra hot regular decaf soy caramel latte with vanilla.

"Thanks. Did Katie and Ben have a good time away?"

"Yeah, they had a great time. They said they'd have us all over for dinner sometime. Though knowing Katie, she'll wait until I plan some kind of gathering and then say there's no point in her hosting anything because we all just caught up anyway."

"Ha, that does sound like Katie." JJ said, taking a seat at his desk and spinning in slow circles.

"What have I missed since I've been gone?" Emily asked, sitting at her own desk.

"Not a thing. It's been pretty dull here this week."

"Well I do provide most of the excitement around here." Emily joked.

"I think it has something to do with you not being here, therefore Panda not being here. Combine that with the fact that Effy and Freddie broke up the other day, there has been minimal intra-office interaction taking place."

"What? Eff and Freddie broke up?"

"Yeah. Did you not hear?"

Emily shook her head.

"Oh. I assumed Naomi would have told you."

Emily shook her head again.

"Oh. Well it was not a big deal, I don't think. From what I hear, Effy just called it off, no reason given."

"With Effy it's always a big deal." Emily said, immediately feeling guilty for the way she had treated her the night before. Making a mental note to go and talk to Effy later, Emily made a start on her work.

* * *

"How was your lunch with Cook?" JJ asked as Emily walked back in to the office at 2pm.

"Wonderful. If you're ever looking for a good Italian place, I definitely recommend that new place on the next street over."

"Good. I'll keep that in mind should Lara and I ever be looking for a restaurant within walking distance that serves a decent lasagne."

Emily looked up when she heard a knock on the door. "Hey Effy." She said, as Effy poked her head inside the office.

"Hi Emily. Do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, of course. JJ, would you mind giving us a minute?" Emily asked JJ.

"Certainly. I need to go downstairs to talk with Naomi anyway."

"Listen, Eff, I'm so sorry about the way I acted and what I said last night. It was wrong of me to blame you. You're right, Naomi's a big girl, she can make decisions for herself and it's not-"

"Ems, could you just let me talk for a minute please?" Effy said, cutting Emily off.

Emily nodded.

"First of all, I bought you something." Effy said, passing Emily a shopping bag. Emily opened the bag and pulled out the box that was inside.

"Eff, you didn't have to do this. I know it was an accident."

"I wanted to. It's not exactly the same as the vase we smashed, but it was the closest I could find." Effy said.

Emily pulled the new vase out of the box and looked at it. "It's lovely Effy. Thank you."

"You're welcome. Secondly," Effy continued, "I'm not going to pretend that what you said to me last night didn't hurt, because it did. But you were right. I knew that Naomi was going through a rough time. Hell, a blind person could see that. But I took her out anyway and yes, it was my intention for us both to get smashed and I didn't try to stop her drinking or taking drugs. But you're right, I knew better and I should have stopped her and I'm sorry that I didn't."

"Effy, I didn't mean what I said last night. I was out of line. I was just angry and overreacted, that's all."

"Yeah, but there's still some truth in it. If I was a good friend I wouldn't have let Naomi have so much last night. Helping her get home doesn't make up for the fact that I screwed up in the first place."

"Eff, you are a good friend. Yes, you may have been a bit stupid last night, but you realised you screwed up and helped her get home. At least you didn't just leave her to come home by herself like she was going to."

"Yeah, well… Like I said, I'm sorry and it won't happen again, and if it makes you feel any better, I have a mother of a hangover today, so I'm definitely being properly punished."

Emily laughed. "Don't worry about it. It's all done; it's over. Let's just pretend it never happened, yeah?"

Effy nodded and walked toward the door. "Thanks Emily. And when you see Cook, tell him I said thanks for taking me home last night."

"Hold on Eff, I want to talk to you about something else first." Emily said, stopping Effy as she got to the door.

"Yeah?"

"Yeah, Come sit down for a bit." Emily said, taking a seat on the sofa and patting the spot next to her. Effy sat down and looked at Emily, waiting for her to speak.

"I hear you and Freds broke up…"

"Yeah."

"Why?"

"Just wasn't working out." Effy said.

"Bullshit."

Effy looked up at Emily in surprise. "What?"

"You heard me. Bullshit. He fucking loves you. And I know you love him too."

"That's the problem." Effy muttered.

"I don't understand…"

"He loves me too much. I'm just going to end up hurting him. Same as I did with the other guy."

"Effy, Freddie is not Kyle." Emily said, remembering the guy Effy had been in love with while they were at uni. "And you're not 19 anymore. You're a completely different person to what you were then."

"Not completely different."

"No, not completely different." Emily agreed. "But very different. Are you still depressed?"

Effy shook her head.

"Are you still psychotic?"

Effy shook her head again.

"Are you still taking a crazy amount of meds everyday?"

Effy nodded.

"Fine, let me rephrase. Are you on as many meds as you were a few years ago?"

Effy shook her head.

"See? You're different. You've been doing so good."

"Yeah, but just because I'm not suicidal anymore doesn't mean I'm not going to fuck everything up." Effy said, causing Emily to cringe at the memory.

"Perhaps. But just because you were suicidal four years ago, doesn't mean you will stuff things up this time. Not that you stuffed things up with Kyle, you just think you did. What he did was his own stupid choice and you need to stop blaming yourself for that."

"Emily, he killed himself. And it was because he didn't want to look after me anymore."

"Stop twisting the situation. What he said was that he didn't want to live in a world where he couldn't make you happy. And he figured because you tired to kill yourself that he wasn't making you happy. You were both as fucked up as the other. But it was _not_ your fault. And just because that's what Kyle did, doesn't mean Freddie will do that. Freddie and Kyle could not be more different."

"I know that. But I'm still scared. Freddie might not kill himself, but something else might happen."

"Effy, stop being so paranoid. That's not how things work. Just because you love someone doesn't mean something bad will happen to them. Me and Cook have been in love for five years. Nothing bad has happened to either of us. He's never hurt me and I'm pretty sure I've never hurt him. And if we have, it's just small fights, never anything serious."

"That's you and Cook though. You're both normal."

"Well then what about JJ and Lara? They've been together the same amount of time as Cook and me. And JJ isn't exactly what you call normal."

Effy didn't say anything.

"You love Freddie?" Emily asked Effy, even though she knew the answer.

"Yes."

"And he loves you?"

"I think so."

"Well I'm telling you he does. Fucking head over heels for you. And are you happier when you're together?"

"Yes."

"Then I want you to go and talk to him. And If you're not back together by tomorrow then I will be having words with both of you."

"Do you really think it's all that simple? Being with someone? Loving someone…?"

"Yep. If you both love each other it is. Now go talk to him or I'll fire you." Emily joked.

"I don't think you're allowed to do that." Effy said, standing up.

"Oh, I'll find a way, don't you worry." Emily said, walking back to her desk. "Let me know how it goes with him, yeah?"

"Yeah, I will. And Emily?"

"Yeah?"

"Thanks."

Emily smiled at Effy and settled back down at her desk to finish off her work for the afternoon.

* * *

Half an hour later Emily's office phone buzzed. She pressed the intercom button.

"Yes?"

"Hi Emily. Effy just called from her office. She said to tell you that 'it's all good' and she said you would know what she meant." Panda's voice said through the phone.

Emily laughed, "Thanks Panda. Anything else?"

"Nope, that's it." Panda said happily.

'Okay, thank you."

"No prob Emsy!"

Emily turned back to her computer and straight away her mobile vibrated on the desk informing her she had a new text message. She opened it and saw it was from Cook.

'_Your__ mother is force-feeding me carrot flan as we speak. Your father is telling me that while it may not actually help me see in the dark, it will help me 'get Fitch'. Your parents are fucking hilarious. They have also just informed me that they are going on a holiday to Australia in a couple of weeks and that we will need to check on the house and water the plants every day or two. Where the fuck did that come from? Also Naomi messaged me to say that she is cooking dinner for us tonight so we don't need to prepare anything. Hope you're having a good afternoon. Love you xx'_

Emily laughed at Cook's message and the fact that he refuses to use 'text language'. She typed out a response and sent it to Cook, glad that he had gotten over her moodiness from the night before.

* * *

**I told you it ends in a weird place... Review?**


	9. Chapter 8

**Dear readers, Sorry it has been so long since I updated this story. Suffice it to say that my summer holidays were a bit shit and I didn't really feel like writing. But I'm back to university next week so I thought I'd give you an update since they might be few and far apart once uni and work goes back.**

**I'm really not happy with this chapter at all. I guess I'm still getting back in to it a bit. But it's a big step for Emily and Naomi, so hopefully it's not too bad.**

* * *

**Chapter 8:**

"Naoms?" Naomi heard Emily call through her bedroom door.

"Hmm?" Naomi answered, not looking up from the book she was reading.

Emily opened the door to Naomi's bedroom and stepped inside. "I'm just going down to the gym for a bit. I'll be back in half an hour or so."

"Okay. Do you want me to start-" Naomi stopped mid-sentence when she looked up and saw Emily. She was wearing skin-tight shorts that were so small they might as well have been underwear. Trying to make sure her eyes didn't linger for too long on Emily's perfectly toned legs, Naomi moved her gaze upwards but found it just as hard to stop staring. There was a small strip of skin showing off Emily's hard stomach where her shirt didn't quite meet her shorts. The shirt was a tank top, just as tight as her shorts, perfectly accentuating her amazing figure. Naomi swallowed hard, unsuccessfully willing herself to look Emily in the eye.

"Naoms?"

"Yeah?" Naomi replied, finally wrenching her eyes up to Emily's.

"Was there an end to that sentence?"

Naomi looked at Emily puzzled. "What?"

"You just started to ask me something… You said, 'do you want me to start…' and then you just stopped talking…" Emily said, a slight smile on her face.

"Oh. I was just… I was going to ask if… Um… I don't remember." Naomi said, giving up on recalling whatever it was she was going to say before she laid eyes on Emily.

"Right. Well like I said, I'll be back in a while. And Cook called to say he'll be late home."

"Okay. Um, Emily?" Naomi called as Emily began to leave the room.

"Mm?"

"Do you mind if I come with you?"

"Sure. I'll wait for you downstairs."

Emily left the room and Naomi jumped up from her bed, rushing to her wardrobe to try and find some clothes that would be appropriate for a work out. Not that she was all that concerned with working out… Watching Emily work out sounded like a much more enjoyable way to spend her evening. Locating a t-shirt and a pair of shorts that were not nearly as sexy as Emily's, Naomi got changed and pulled on her runners. She glanced at herself in the mirror on her way out. _Not as hot as Emily, but not bad,_ she thought to herself as she left the room and went downstairs to find Emily.

"Well I'm going to go on the treadmill for a while. You can just do whatever you want. All the machines are over there. Weights and stuff like that are on the other side of the room. Sauna and pool are in the next room." Emily told Naomi when they reached the gym that was located on the ground floor of the apartment building.

"Okay. I might just go on a bike or something." Naomi said, trying to find a machine that she would be able to see Emily from that wouldn't make her look completely uncoordinated.

Naomi wandered over to an exercise bike and put her towel and water bottle down on the floor next to her. She glanced up to see Emily plugging her i-Pod in to her ears and climbing on to the treadmill. Naomi climbed on to the bike and began to pedal, glancing up at Emily every minute or so, trying to be subtle. Her quick glances became long gazes as Emily began to pick up speed and her brisk walk turned in to a jog.

Naomi was in the middle of one of her 'admiring' sessions when Emily looked up and made eye contact with Naomi. Naomi shot a brief smile at Emily and looked around the room, pretending that she had been looking around the whole time and not staring at her best friend. Her best friend who was also her boss. Her best friend who was also her boss and also had a boyfriend. A serious boyfriend. Her best friend who was also her boss and had a serious boyfriend and was straight and not at all interested in Naomi.

A few minutes later, Naomi decided it was okay to chance another look at Emily. She watched as Emily pressed some buttons on her machine and the track of the treadmill began to move faster. Naomi felt her eyes involuntarily drift down slightly as Emily's jog turned in to a run. She felt her tongue slip out and moisten her lips as she watched Emily's barely contained breasts jumping up and down slightly with every step she took.

Naomi was distracted from her staring when she heard the man on the bike next to her speak.

"I love it when she's on the treadmills."

Naomi looked at the man beside her. "Excuse me?"

The man nodded his head toward Emily. "It's good when she's on the treadmills. Good view." He said, wiggling his eyebrows in a way very reminiscent of Cook. Naomi could tell that this guy wasn't doing it in a joking way like Cook did though.

Naomi just stared at the man, disgusted at the way he was eyeing up Emily and confused as to why he was talking to her at all.

"C'mon, don't look at me like that. You can't try and tell me that you didn't notice her. You've been staring at her ever since she started running."

Naomi just looked away from the man and continued pedalling, trying to focus on her riding this time, rather than on Emily.

"I'm assuming you're in to girls then." The man said.

Naomi rolled her eyes at his pathetic attempt to start conversation and ignored him.

"I'll take your silence as a yes." He said. Naomi rolled her eyes again and tightened the tension on her bike.

There was silence for a moment and Naomi was glad the man had clearly decided to give up and leave her to her work out.

"Oh, she's running even faster now." The man said. Naomi's eyes shot up to Emily, who was practically sprinting now, a look of determination on her face.

"Yep. Definitely gay." The guy said with a laugh. Naomi gritted her teeth and looked back down.

"So what's your name?" the man asked.

"Naomi." She answered, in the hope that if she spoke to him for a minute he might then back off.

"Nice. I'm Craig. I haven't seen you around before. I take it you're new to the building?"

"Mm hmm."

"Met anyone else from the building yet?"

"Not really." Naomi answered uninterested.

"Well I'll point out a couple of people to you then." Craig said, taking one hand off the handlebars and pointing to a guy on a bench press on the other side of the room. "That's Anthony. He's my roommate. And that one over there," He pointed to a guy on a rowing machine. "That's Sean. He lives next door to me with his wife, Nikki."

Naomi nodded.

"And the girl you've been checking out," Craig said, pointing to Emily. "That's Emma. She lives a couple of floors below me. Her boyfriends the biggest pansy you'll ever meet. You may have seen him around. Always wears his shirts buttoned up to the top collar and suspenders. Always overly friendly whenever you see him. Don't know how he managed to get a girl like Emma. Probably that fake sensitive act he puts on."

Naomi sighed and rolled her eyes, unable to take anymore of Craig's jealous ramblings.

"Her name's _Emily_ actually, not _Emma_. Her boyfriend's name is Cook and he's the nicest guy I have ever had the fortune to meet. And I live with them." Naomi said in the hope it would shut Craig up. She was wrong.

"Ah, crushing on your housemate are we now? That never ends well." Craig said in a teasing voice. "You'll have to battle out _Cook_ for her attention. And I don't think he'll give her up easily. Acts like he owns the fucking world when he's got his arm around her."

"Cook doesn't think he '_owns the fucking world'_, it's called being proud of your girlfriend, rather than treating girls like objects whose only purpose is to act like a sex toy for guys who are too self-involved and ignorant to realise that women are actually a rather significant part of human life."

Craig just laughed at Naomi's words. "Whatever." He said, "Anyway, I know you're in to girls, but if you're ever up for it, just come knock on my door and I'll be more than happy to be your _friend_, if you know what I mean."

"Excuse me?" Naomi said, turning her head and looked at Craig properly for the first time. He looked to be in his late twenties, not too bad looking, but not as good as he clearly thought he was. He had brown hair that was beginning to thin out on top, despite his young age. His scrawny arms and legs proved Naomi's suspicion that he spent more time checking out the girls in the gym, rather than working out. His stubble looked more like he just hadn't bothered to shave for a few days than a fashion statement.

Craig winked at her. "You know what I mean. If you're ever feeling a bit lonely and in need of a good time my door is always open. Maybe we could see if _Emily_ wants to come around too. I think I could show both of you a good time."

"Yeah? You think so?" Naomi said, climbing off her bike. Craig nodded. "Go fuck yourself. Tosser." Naomi said, picking up her towel and drink bottle. She turned her back on Craig and stormed off across the room to the treadmills. She stepped on to the treadmill next to Emily and turned the speed right up so that she was running.

"You alright?" Emily asked, turning down the speed on her machine so that she could talk.

"Fine."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Naomi said, breathing deeply as she struggled to keep up with the speed of her machine.

"Do you want to slow that down a little?" Emily asked, noticing that Naomi was having trouble keeping up.

Naomi shook her head.

"What was going on with that guy over there?"

"He was being a tosser."

"Why? What'd he say?" Emily asked, turning off her machine and stepping off. She stood next to Naomi's machine and rested against the handles.

"He was just being a typical guy. Thinking with his dick."

"Want me to go tell him to fuck off?"

"No. Don't talk to him." Naomi said firmly. "Just stay away from him."

"Are you sure? If he's got you this worked up he must have done something pretty fucking serious. If he's making inappropriate comments I can tell the landlord and he can take away his gym pass. That's what happened to some other pervert that used to use this gym; the landlord wouldn't let him in anymore."

"No. Emily, just leave it, okay?" Naomi turned off her machine and stepped down. "I'm going back upstairs." She turned and began to walk out of the gym, deliberately not looking at Craig, who she could see waving at her out of the corner of her eye.

"I'm coming too." Emily said, following her.

Naomi and Emily walked back in to the apartment silently. Naomi walked straight upstairs to the bathroom and took a shower. When she came back downstairs she found Emily in the kitchen looking in the pantry.

"What do you want for dinner tonight?" Emily asked.

"Don't care." Naomi answered bluntly, filling a glass with water and having a sip.

"Well Cook's having dinner at my parents house, so we could order out or there's some rice and a jar of Indian stuff we could cook. Or we could go over to my parents' house as well. Although I warn you, the food will probably be horrible." Emily said with a little laugh.

"I said I don't care." Naomi said, putting down her glass harder than necessary and leaving the kitchen.

"Right, what the fuck is up with you?" Emily asked, following Naomi and stopping her at the bottom of the stairs. "You were fine this afternoon and then once we were at the gym you've been acting like a complete bitch. What happened?"

"Nothing."

"Naomi, stop playing games. Just be an adult for once in you life and tell me wha-"

"He likes you okay? That fucking Craig tosser likes you." Naomi said quickly.

Emily paused and looked at Naomi confused. A small smile spread across her lips. "That's it?"

"Well yeah… What do you mean 'that's it'? He fucking likes you! And you're with Cook!"

"Yeah, exactly. I'm with Cook. Which is why it doesn't matter."

Naomi just gave Emily a blank look; not understanding why Emily didn't think this was a big deal.

"Believe it or not, Naoms, I do occasionally come across a guy who likes me. It doesn't mean I like them back."

"I know that. But it doesn't make it okay for him to talk that way about you. And it doesn't mean you shouldn't stay the hell away from him." Naomi said, getting angry.

"Why, what kind of stuff was he saying?"

"He was bagging out Cook and treating you like an object and said he would like to have a threesome with me and you."

Emily let out a little laugh. "What a tosser. Did you tell him it wasn't going to happen?" Emily asked, walking in to the lounge room.

"Yeah, I… What's… Why are you laughing? What could possibly be funny about this?"

"Him. The fact that he thinks he's going to get both of us into his bed."

"It's not funny, Emily. He was checking you out and it was pretty obvious that this isn't the first time he's done it. Just stay away from him, alright? He's bad news." Naomi said grumpily.

"What's up with you?" Emily asked, plonking herself down on the sofa and reaching for the TV remote.

"What do you mean?"

"You're acting like a jealous girlfriend. If anyone, shouldn't it be Cook telling me not to go near him? Why do you care so much?"

"Because I like you, okay. I fucking like you." Naomi said, the words slipping from her mouth before she could stop them. She clapped her hand over her mouth and turned to leave the room.

"Wait… What?"

"You heard me." Naomi whispered.

"You mean you… _like_ me, like me?"

Naomi didn't say a word, which was enough for Emily to figure out her answer.

Naomi walked out of the lounge room and Emily heard her pick up her keys. She jumped up from the sofa and walked out to the entrance hall.

"What are you doing?" Emily asked as Naomi opened the front door.

"I'm going out."

"Could you just stay and talk about this? You can't just tell me you like me and then leave."

"No, don't tell me what I can and can't do! There's nothing to even talk about. I like you, you're with Cook and you're straight. End of fucking story." Naomi said, stepping out of the apartment and slamming the door closed behind her.

Emily stood in the empty hallway, stunned at what had just happened. Part of her wanted to follow Naomi, force her to stay and talk about it. Another part of her wanted her to just leave so that they could both have some time to think.

She walked upstairs and sat on the edge of her bed.

_Naomi likes me_, she thought.

_Naomi likes me. And I like her back._

_Woah,_ she thought to herself. _Where did that come from?_

She grabbed a cigarette and moved out to the balcony, as she always did when she needed to think.

_Who am I kidding,_ she thought as she lit up her cigarette. Her fingers automatically went to the place on her wrist where Naomi had kissed her the week before. She thought of the words Naomi had said to her that night when she had come home drunk. _Beautiful,_ she had called her. And sexy. _Beautiful_ and _fucking sexy._ At the time Emily had put it down to drunken ramblings, but now it seemed true that drunken words are sober thoughts.

Again she traced the place on her wrist where Naomi's lips had touched her. Naomi's soft, kissable lips.

_Woah, kissable? Since when do I think Naomi is kissable? Since when do I think any girl is kissable?_

Emily stubbed out her half smoked cigarette and walked back downstairs to the kitchen. She put a couple of slices of bread in the toaster and opened a bottle of beer as she waited for it to cook. Once her toast was cooked and buttered she walked in to the lounge room, sat down on the sofa, grabbing Cook's i-pod off the coffee table and put it in her ears. Flicking through the songs until she found something she liked, she took a bite of toast, chewing the dry food and forcing herself to swallow, before realising that she really didn't feel like eating. She placed her plate on the coffee table and reached for her beer, finishing it in a few mouthfuls.

A lone tear trickled down her cheek as she thought over the last few months: How perfect her life had been; how happy she was when Naomi re-entered her life; how her heart broke as she listened to Naomi talk about her horrible her life had been; How supportive Cook had been of them both; The things Naomi had said and done the night she came home drunk; How jealous Naomi had got when she found out that Craig liked her and how angry she got when Emily didn't care; How Naomi had admitted that she liked Emily, before storming out of the house.

She swiped away the tears and lied down on the sofa, burying her face in a cushion. She contemplated going after Naomi, but decided against it, knowing that she wouldn't know what to say if she managed to find her. She could hardly just ask her to come home and act like nothing had happened. She could apologise for arguing with her, but that still didn't target the real issue. She could tell the blonde that she didn't feel the same way and they could move past it.

_Or I could just be honest,_ she thought to herself. _I could just admit that I have feelings for her._

The next thing Emily knew, Cook was kneeling beside her, gently patting her stomach to wake her up. Emily sat up groggily and pulled the i-pod from her ears.

"Hey. How was your day?"

"It was alright. Are you okay? You look like you've been crying…" Cook said, cupping Emily's cheeks.

"I'm fine. Me and Naomi had a bit of an argument, that's all." Emily said, trying to act like it was nothing.

"What about?"

"It's not important."

"Okay. Well if you want to talk about anything you know I'm right here." Cook said, sitting down beside Emily and passing her phone to her. "Your phone was ringing when I walked in. You have a couple of missed calls and messages."

Emily took her phone and looked at the screen.

**3 new text messages**

**4 missed calls**

Emily checked the calls and saw three were from Effy and one was from Freddie. She opened the text messages one by one. This time there were two from Effy and one from Freddie, all of them saying to call her as soon as she got the messages.

She had just started dialling Effy's number when her phone started to ring in her hand, the screen flashing Effy's name.

"Hello?" She said, answering the call.

"Em, it's Effy. Did you get my messages?"

"Yeah, I was just about to call you. What's going on? Is everything okay?"

"Yeah. No. I don't know. Freds and I are at the pub. Naomi's here. She's in a bit of a state. I think you should come and get her."

"Why? Is she okay? What's she doing?"

"Well she rocked up in a right state. She looked like she'd been crying. She ordered a whole lot of shots and I think she maybe took some pills. She's just… not really being herself…"

"Okay, I'll be right there." Emily said, hanging up the phone and grabbing her jacket and keys. "Cook, I've gotta go get Naomi. See ya later."

Emily rushed out the door and got her car, speeding toward the pub that Effy and Freddie always hung out at. When she got there, she pulled up on the street outside and walked quickly inside, eyes squinting in the dim light to find Naomi. As she stepped further inside she saw Effy and Freddie sitting at the bar. Effy caught her eye and pointed toward a small dance floor on the other side of the bar. Emily looked where Effy was pointing and spotted Naomi's blonde hair immediately. She was dancing with a girl, bodies rubbing up against each other, hands running over hips, backs and shoulders. There was a guy right behind her, his front pressed against Naomi's back. She was grinding her arse in to his crotch and it was pretty clear he was enjoying it. The guy ran a hand up her side and squeezed it between Naomi and the girl and squeezed one of her tits. She tipped her back to look at him and he leant forward and caught her lips with his, slipping his tongue right in.

They kissed for a few moments and when they pulled away, Naomi caught Emily's eyes with her own. She gave a tiny smile and a wink and turned back to the slut who had been sucking on her neck for the last minute. Naomi grabbed the slut's neck and pulled her face to her own, kissing her deeply. She ran her hands down the sluts back until her hands were resting on her arse and she squeezed her buttocks.

Emily couldn't help the jealousy that raged through her at the sight. She marched to the dance floor and shoved the grinding guy away from Naomi. She grabbed Naomi by the shoulder, pulling her away from the slut. Naomi turned to Emily, a small triumphant smile on her face.

"Do you mind? We were kind of in the middle of something." The slut said angrily at Emily.

"If you're jealous, you could always just join us." The guy said, doing nothing to hide the erection in his jeans.

"Fuck off." Emily said, taking Naomi's hand and dragging her away from the dance floor. "C'mon Naoms, we're leaving."

Emily led Naomi back through the pub. "Thanks guys." She said as she walked past Effy and Freddie. They both nodded but didn't say anything. Emily opened the door and held it open for Naomi.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing?" Emily asked when they were outside.

"Just having a bit of fun." Naomi slurred, her eyes not quite focussed.

"What have you taken?" Emily asked, stepping closer to Naomi and cupping her cheeks. "You're pupils are huge."

"That girl gave me a pill. And I had a spliff with the guy. And tequila. Lots of tequila."

"Fucksake." Emily said, sitting down on the curb, not ready to drive home yet.

Naomi stood behind Emily, watching her silently.

"Why did you come?" She asked after a minute.

"Effy and Freddie called and asked me to come and get you. They were worried about you."

"Is that the only reason?"

"Yes. Well, no… I was worried too." Emily admitted.

"You don't need to worry about me."

"No? You told me that you used to drink and take drugs and hook up with lots of people and that you got yourself so fucked up you tried to kill yourself. But when I see you completely off your face, practically fucking two people right on the dance floor, I'm not supposed to worry? Get real, Naomi."

"You don't need to worry about me. You don't need to give a shit about me. I can take care of myself. Why don't you just leave me alone and go back to caring for Katie and Zack and Mia and Cook."

"Why don't I just go back to caring about them?" Emily said, standing to her feet. "Because I care about you. Because I want you to be okay. I want you to be safe. You're my friend which automatically means I'll look out for you."

"You don't care about me." Naomi said. "No one cares about me."

"Don't give me that shit Naomi." Emily said, getting angry. "You know I care about you. And Cook cares about you. Effy and Freddie clearly care about you. JJ cares about you. Katie cares about you. Zack and Mia fucking adore you. So don't you dare tell me that no one cares about you. You think I'd be here if I didn't?"

"Just fuck off Emily. Go home to your boyfriend. Just because you found out I like you doesn't mean you need to start saving my arse. I can take care of myself."

"Yeah, because letting yourself get felt up by two complete strangers is taking care of yourself. Pull yourself together Naomi. You need to grow up and realise that it's okay to be friends with people. It's okay to look out for each other. It's okay to talk about how you're feeling rather than keeping it all inside till it explodes and you go off on a bender."

"Yeah, because talking about my feelings always goes so well, doesn't it?"

"What do you mean?"

"Tonight! I try to tell you that I don't feel comfortable with you seeing that Craig guy and you just laugh in my face. I tell you that I like you and you say nothing. Fucking nothing! Do you know how stupid that made me feel? To have someone make it so blatantly obvious that they don't like you back?"

"You didn't give me a chance to say anything! You walked right out of the house!"

"I stood in the hallway outside the front door for five minutes after. If you had anything to say you could have just come out and told me. That fact that you didn't come after me makes it pretty clear that you had nothing to say to me."

"You want me to say something? I'll show you right now how fucking easy it is to say what I'm feeling." Emily stood up straight and took a step closer to Naomi.

"I like you. I fucking like you. I have no idea what to do with that because I'm with Cook. I'm so fucking confused because I've never liked a girl before and I don't know how to deal with that. All my life I've been straight. All my life everything has been simple and straightforward and easy. Then you come along and it's the best thing that happened to me in years and you mix everything up and you make me feel things I've never felt before. It wasn't until you told me that you liked me that I actually realised that I like you too. So I'm sorry that I didn't come out and say anything to you straight away, but I was trying to figure out what the fuck was going on."

Emily took a deep breath as she finished, surprised that she had shared that much. She hadn't planned to say any of it. She hadn't even realised some of it until it came spilling out of her mouth.

"Don't lie." Naomi said.

"What?" Emily asked, confused. "What part do you think I'm lying about?"

"Don't tell me you like me just to make me feel better."

"You think I said that just to make you feel better?"

Naomi nodded.

"Well I didn't. It's the fucking truth, okay?"

Naomi didn't say anything.

"Don't believe me? Fine. Maybe this will prove it to you."

Emily took a couple of steps toward Naomi and pushed her up against the brick wall of the pub. She rested her hands on Naomi's hips and kissed her hard on the lips. Naomi was still for a moment, surprised by Emily's actions. After a moment she began to respond. She began to kiss Emily back, opening her mouth to let Emily's tongue slip inside. She tangled one hand in Emily's hair, and wrapped the other around Emily's waist, pulling her closer so that their bodies were pressed flush together.

The door of the pub opened and Emily jumped away from Naomi as fast as she could. She turned to see Effy standing by the door, lighting up a cigarette and eyeing them suspiciously.

The three stared at each other for a moment before Effy spoke up. "I think I'll go back inside to Freds." She said, handing her fag to Emily who took it gratefully. Effy disappeared inside and Emily took a long drag on the cigarette.

"Lets go home." She said. She took another long drag and passed the cigarette to Naomi. She unlocked her car and got in the drivers seat. Naomi hopped in to the passengers seat and Emily started off down the street.

They drove all the way home in silence, neither of them quite sure what to say to the other. Naomi figured Emily regretted the kiss, but was too scared of hearing the answer to ask. Emily didn't regret the kiss, but regretted the situation they were now in. She knew she would have to talk to Naomi about it but wasn't sure she wanted to do it when Naomi was still stoned.

They arrived back to the apartment building and rode the elevator in silence. They had just about reached the front door when Emily turned to Naomi.

"Listen, Naoms, about what happened…."

"It's okay. It's okay of you regret it. I understand." Naomi said, even though the thought of Emily regretting it ripped her heart in two.

"No, I don't regret it. I don't regret it at all." Emily said, taking Naomi's hand and squeezing it gently before letting go. "But this is complicated. I'm with Cook. And I'm not going to ruin what I have with him. I just need some time to think, okay? I need to figure out what's going on and what I want."

Naomi nodded. "I understand." She said.

"Thanks. And if you could not mention this to Cook, I'd really appreciate it."

"Of course." Naomi said. Telling Cook had never even crossed her mind. They were her two best friends. She would never intentionally ruin her friendship with them, or their relationship with each other.

Emily smiled and stood on her tiptoes to kiss Naomi lightly on the cheek. "Am I still your best friend?" She asked.

Naomi smiled. "Of course." She said. "Am I still… one of your friends…?"

Emily laughed. "Yeah. You're still my best friend."


	10. Chapter 9

**So another update in just over a week... That's not too bad, right? I'm getting better? Yes? Good, glad you agree. **

**ANyway, thanks for the reviews and shizzle. Also, there has been a bit of interest in House Made of Paper lately... And I've got to be honest and say I have no idea when I'll get to finish that one... I'm finding it hard to write and really only have time to write one story at a time. And since this one is more popular, and I find it easier to write, I guess I'm gonna keep going with this one. I still do hope that one day I will finish HMoP.**

**Also... Now that gen 3 skins is out, is everyone going to start writing about them? Or will people still stick with Emily and Naomi and their fellow gen 2-ers?**

**Anyway, this one is a bit long.. But I hope you enjoy it... It's a bit of a filler, just setting up for the next few chapters...**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

"Hey. Where's Emily?" Naomi asked as she walked in to the kitchen, rubbing her bloodshot eyes.

"She left already." Cook mumbled between mouthfuls of cereal.

"For work? She'll be the only one there." Naomi said, glancing at the clock on the wall to see that it was only 7am.

"Nah, she said she was going to spend some time with Katie. Said she might go to work for the afternoon but not sure."

"Oh." Naomi said, curious as to why Emily would be skiving off work. "Did she say why she's going to Katie's?"

"Said she needs to talk to her about something. Sister stuff." Cook said, placing his empty bowl in the sink. "Anyway, I'm off. Back to the Fitch's today. Rob keeps distracting my workers by telling them that they'd be able to dig faster if they went to his gym and 'got Fitch'. Knowing Jenna, she'll make me stay for dinner so you and Emily ought to go out or something. Have some fun."

* * *

Emily knocked on the front door of Katie's house and waited for her sister to open the door.

"Ems! What are you doing here?" Katie asked, opening the door wide so that Emily could come inside.

"Just thought I'd come and visit my sister." Emily said, stepping inside and closing the door behind her.

Katie raised an eyebrow at her suspiciously.

"I need to talk to you about something." Emily admitted.

"Okay. Well I'm just getting Zack ready for school. I'll be leaving to take him in 20 minutes. You can stay here with Mia if you like and then when I get back we can talk."

"Okay, thanks."

"I've just got to finish packing Zack's lunch. The kettle's boiled if you want to make yourself a coffee." Katie said, leading Emily through to the kitchen of their cozy house.

"Where are the kids?"

"Zack's in his room getting dressed and Mia is still asleep. I was going to have to wake her up for when we left for school, but if you're here she can stay asleep."

Emily took a seat at the breakfast bar as Katie set to work making a sandwich for Zack's lunch. "Where's Ben?"

"He already left for work. Trying to get some extra hours in. Make up a bit of time so that he can take a couple of days off when the baby is born."

"Good idea. How are you guys going?"

"We're fine. You know us; we get by. Now stop trying to focus on me and tell me what's going on with you. It's not often that you skive off work to come and talk to you darling sister."

"Meh." Emily shrugged. "Just got a lot going on. Needed someone to talk to."

"And Cook didn't cut it?"

"It's not something I can really talk to Cook about."

"Why not?"

Emily paused for a moment, trying to figure out how to say it. "It's about… Last night I… Me an-"

"Aunty Emily!"

"Zack-attack!" Emily stood up from her stool and crouched down to give her nephew a big hug. Standing to her feet again, she placed a hand in the top of Zack's head and moved it across so that it was against her stomach. "Is it possible for you to have grown just in the last week since I saw you?"

"Yep. Mummy says I'm having a growth squirt."

"It's called a growth _spurt_, sweetie." Katie told her son with a smile on her face. "And here's your lunchbox. Go put it is straight in your bag so you don't forget it again."

Zack ran off to the corner of the room and put his lunchbox in his bag. He gathered a few books and placed them in the bag as well. Then pulled out a screwed up charcoal gray woollen jumper and pulled it over his head.

"Zack, what have I told you about not leaving your school jumper in your bag overnight?" Katie said, hands on her hips.

"That I shouldn't do it." Zack said quietly, clearly aware that he had done the wrong thing.

"Exactly. Now it's all screwed up and it's going to take me ages to get the creases out."

"Sorry Mummy. I just forgot yesterday." Zack said, walking over to his mother and resting against her pregnant belly. Katie wrapped her arms around her son.

"That's okay, buddy. Just try to remember to take it out other days, yeah?"

"I will Mum."

"Good boy. Have you packed something for show and tell?"

"Yep! I got my new Buzz Lightyear!"

"Good. Just be careful with it and make sure you don't take it in the sandpit or it will get broken. You ready to go?"

"Yep."

Zack put his bag on his back, kissed Emily goodbye and ran to the front door.

"I'll be back in about 20 minutes or half an hour. If Mia wakes up just go in and… Well you know the drill. Help yourself to anything you want, or turn the TV on or whatever. Just make yourself at home." Katie said, following Zack to the door.

Emily stayed sitting on her stool for a few minutes, thinking over the events of last night for the hundredth time. She had hardly slept the night before. When her and Naomi got home, Cook had already gone to bed. She joined him and allowed Cook to cuddle up to her, but it didn't feel the same as it normally did. It did make her feel close to him like it normally did. Physically they were close, but emotionally she had never felt so distant from him. Riddled with guilt, she lay awake for most of the night, thinking things over and trying to figure out what to do.

Now that she had realised it, she could not deny that she had feelings for Naomi. But she still had feelings for Cook, too. She loved Cook, more than anything. They had been together since they were teenagers. They knew every single thing about each other.

She knew what his favourite song was, but that his favourite song was not by his favourite musician. She knew that his Mum had forced him to play rugby as a boy, even though he hated rugby and loved cricket and football. She knew that his Mum kicked him out of home when he was 16. And she knew _why_ he had been kicked out. She knew that even though he acted like he didn't give a toss about most things, his friends and family was the most important thing in the world to him. She knew that he could play the piano, and was an extremely talented singer, even though he rarely played for anyone but her. She knew that he got his nipple pierced when he was 18, but then took it out two weeks later when he decided he didn't like it. She knew how many girls he had slept with. She knew he had a little crush on Effy when they first met, but never did anything about it because he was too in love Emily. She knew that his favourite food was Indian and that his favourite colour was green. She knew that his favourite movie was Chicago, even though he would never admit that to anyone but her.

She contemplated all this as she watched him sleep, tracing his tattoos lightly with her finger. She was the only person who knew exactly how many tattoos he had. He had a big cross on his ribs, 'jack the lad' written on his shoulder. On the inside of his bicep he had some song lyrics. A smile spread across her face as she remembered the time a drunk Cook had decided he was going to get a tattoo of someone giving him head on his cock until Emily and JJ had managed to talk him out of it.

Cook rolled over slightly and Emily spotted her favourite tattoo if his. The one that only a few people knew he had. On his other shoulder, in tiny script, was the word _Emily_. He had got it one week when Emily was away on business and didn't tell her about it. She hadn't known about it until she got back and found it when they went to bed that night. She traced the small letters with her finger, leaning over and placing a gentle kiss on naked shoulder.

She got up early in the morning, took a long shower and messaged JJ to say that she wouldn't be in to work that morning. She went downstairs, had a cup of coffee and was ready to leave by 6:30. Knowing that that was too early to go to Katie's, she sat with Cook in the kitchen, working her way through two more coffees, before kissing him goodbye before Naomi could wake up.

The sounds of Mia calling out distracted her from her thoughts and she left the kitchen and walked through to Mia's room, glad to have something to do. She lifted a sleepy Mia from her bed and changed her nappy, before getting her dressed and taking her to the kitchen. She fixed Mia some breakfast and made another cup of coffee for herself and sat at the table with Mia as she ate. She smiled at her niece, as Mia told her a story about something that had happened yesterday, using half real words, half baby sounds. Mia cracked up laughing at the end of her story, obviously finding whatever she said funny. Emily laughed along, thinking how adorable the young girl was.

Emily looked up as she heard Katie walk back in to the house.

"Wow, dressed and breakfast-ed already. You should come around more often." Katie said, noticing that Mia was all set for the day.

The two sisters sat at the table chatting and mucking around with Mia for a few minutes before Katie turned serious.

"Em, I saw Lara at the school while she was dropping off Albert. She said that if you and I wanted to spend the day together she would be more than happy to have Mia for the day."

"Oh, that's alright. You don't have to… I didn't mean that… I don't want to put you out at all."

"Emily, stop being so freakin selfless for once in your life. It's okay to ask for things once in a while. Now do you want me to take Mia to Lara's?"

Emily bit her lower lip, not wanting to tell Katie to get rid of her daughter for the day, but desperate to talk to Katie without any distractions. "That might be good, if it's not too much trouble." Emily said quietly.

"Then that's what will happen." Katie said, and then turned to her daughter. "Mia, would you like to spend the day playing with Jonah at Aunty Lara and Uncle JJ's"?

Mia nodded her head excitedly. "Okay, go and find your shoes and your jacket then come back here and I'll help you put them on." Katie told her daughter.

Mia ran off to her bedroom and Emily could hear her rummaging around for a minute before she came running back out, holding a pink jacket and the tiny little Nike sneakers Emily had bought her for her birthday. Katie helped her daughter put on the shoes and fasted the Velcro then zipped up the jacket the Mia had put on herself.

"Ems, I'll be back in like ten minutes, kay?"

"Yeah, no worries." Emily said, walking from the dining table to the sofa and sitting down.

She turned on the TV, hoping to distract herself until Katie came back. Flicking through the channels, she settled on the morning news. Before she knew it, Katie was home again and sitting next to her.

"Right, what's going on?" Katie asked, getting straight to the point.

Emily stayed silent, trying to figure out what to say.

"Ems, it's me. You don't need to pretend with me and you don't need to hide things. Just say whatever you're thinking."

"I cheated on Cook." Emily blurted out.

"What?" Katie said, stunned and clearly angry. "Ems, what the fuck?"

"Not like… anything serious… I didn't sleep with them. We just kissed once."

"Why the fuck are you going around kissing people that aren't Cook anyway? Who was it?"

Again, Emily stayed silent.

"Emily stop being a tool and just tell me who it was. I can't help you if you wont even talk to me."

Emily sighed and took a deep breath. "It was Naomi."

Katie narrowed her eyes at Emily. "Naomi? Like _Naomi_, Naomi?"

Emily nodded.

"Like Naomi who you were best friends with when we were kids? Who lives and works with you? Gay Naomi? That Naomi?"

"Yes, that Naomi!" Emily said. "How many Naomi's do we know?"

"Well just that one, but I had to be sure." Katie said. "Why did you kiss her? Since when have you ever been in to girls?"

"I'm not in to girls. And I don't know… We had a fight last night and then she admitted that she liked me. Then she left and I kind of realised that… Maybe I like her too… Then Effy called me to say the Naomi had gone out and gotten completely trashed and that I should go pick her up. So I went out to get her and she was fucking around with these two fuckheads and something inside me just snapped. I was watching her dance with them and kiss them and touch them and it hurt. Like somewhere inside, I was actually in pain. So I went over and broke it up and took her outside. She was completely wasted. Like, remember what Eff was like when we first met her?" Katie nodded. "She was like that. Anyway, she was feeling all sorry for herself and I admitted that I liked her. She didn't believe me so I kissed her."

"What kind of kiss?"

"What do you mean what kind of kiss? It was just a kiss."

"On the lips?"

"No, I cheated on Cook by giving her a peck on the cheek." Emily said sarcastically.

Katie rolled her eyes. "Stop being so immature, I'm just trying to get the full story."

"Sorry."

"So then what happened?"

"Well we were kissing…"

"Tongue?"

"Yeah. So we're kissing, and Effy walks out of the pub."

"Shit."

"Yeah. And we jump apart and Eff just goes back inside. And then me and Naomi left and didn't say a word to each other until we got home and I asked her not to mention it to Cook and that I needed some time to work things out."

"So how are things between you now?"

"Well it seemed okay last night. I mean it was awkward, but she seemed to understand that I need some time."

"And this morning?"

"Didn't see her. I left before she got up."

"Wow. How very grown up of you."

"Shut up. I didn't know what to do. I didn't want to be in the same room as her and Cook."

"So does Cook know any of it?"

Emily shook her head. "He was in bed by the time I got home last night. Then this morning we just talked about work and I told him I was going to take the day off."

"And he was cool with that?"

"Yeah, of course he was. He's cool with whatever I want."

"He is a pretty amazing boyfriend."

Emily looked at Katie unamused. "Not helping, Kay."

"Right. Sorry. Anyway, back to the point… Do you know what you're going to do?"

"No."

"Well you love Cook, right?"

Emily nodded. "So much."

"And you like Naomi?"

Again, Emily nodded.

"Do you love her?"

Emily thought for a minute. "I love her as a friend. I don't love her in a romantic way."

"Do you think you could love her in a romantic way?"

Emily thought for a minute. "I don't know. It's kind of weird, isn't it? Thinking about a girl like that. I mean, I'm not gay. I've never liked girls before."

"It's not really that weird. Just because you've only been interested in guys in the past doesn't mean you will only ever be interested in guys. It's the person that you fall in love with, not their gender."

"I suppose. But still…"

"So…?"

"So what?"

"Do you think you could love her? In a romantic way?"

"I don't know. I suppose? It felt pretty good when we were kissing last night. And we get along so well with each other and she's good to talk to. And she's beautiful and funny and brave. She told me all the stuff that she went through when she was younger. Like _everything_. She said I'm the only person she has told about it. And it was horrible. I admire her so much for actually being able to get out of bed everyday and get on with life. She's had it so hard and was treated horribly, but she still sees the best in everyone. Even the people who treat her badly, she makes excuses for them. Which is kind of fucked up, but it's just part of her nature. And she's smart and great at her job. She stands up for what she believes in but doesn't force her opinions on you. And she's beautiful. When you look in her eyes it's like you can see right through to her soul. And sometimes it's horrible and you can feel the pain and sadness and all I want to do is hold her and tell that everything will be fine. But sometimes it's wonderful and you can see the happiness and the excitement. She's like a little kid discovering new things. And when she smiles it's like the whole world is a happy place. Suddenly there's no hunger and no war, no death, no poverty. No bad stuff at all. It's just Naomi and her smile."

"Jesus Christ, Ems, it sounds like you're already in love with her."

Emily thought for a moment. "I do love her. I'm not _in_ love with her though."

"Could have fooled me."

"I'm serious. I'm not saying I could never be in love with her, but right now I'm not."

"So what are you going to do?"

"What do you mean?"

"Are you going to give it a go with her? Or are you going to stay with Cook? It's completely your choice, but I will _not_ let you stay with Cook and have Naomi on the side. You need to choose one of them."

"I know, I could never do that. It wouldn't be fair to any of us."

Emily took a deep breath and let it out slowly. "But it's not as simple as that, is it? Being with someone…"

"Isn't it?"

"No. I could stay with Cook and be happy for the rest of my life. But I'll always wonder if maybe things could have been better with Naomi. Or I could leave Cook and try things with Naomi and end up with it not working at all and wishing I had stayed with Cook."

Katie didn't say anything while she let Emily work through everything that was going on in her head.

"I love Cook. So much. I don't think I could leave him. I _know_ I couldn't leave him if I wasn't sure about it."

"Can you picture yourself living the rest of your life with Cook? Is he the one you want to marry and have kids with and grow old with?"

"I think so." Emily said. "But how do you ever know for sure. We've been together five years but we're both not ready to get married yet. Does that mean that we never will be? Or that we don't love each other enough? Or are we just not as mature as you and Ben? And as for children… I think I want them someday… But it's not really something I think about all the time. What was it like with you and Ben? Did you always know that he was the one you were supposed to live the rest of your life with?"

"Pretty much." Katie said. "We were only young but I knew from the start that he was different to all the other guys I had been with before. He treated me well and he loved me. From the moment I feel in love with him, all I could think about was marrying him and having kids with him and living every single moment of our lives together."

Emily sighed. "It's not like that with me and Cook. We were friends for ages before we got together. Then we were heaps casual about it for a while. Eventually we moved in together and we're pretty much like a married couple anyway, but I don't exactly dream of what our wedding would be like. I have kind of always assumed we would get married one day, but to be honest, I could kind of take it or leave it."

Katie raised an eyebrow at Emily, slightly surprised by her words.

"I don't mean I could take or leave Cook." Emily clarified. "I mean marriage. To me, it doesn't really make a difference to me whether we're married or if we just live together. Is that weird? Shouldn't I want to declare my love to him and have it legal and for the rest of our lives and all that?"

"Not necessarily." Katie said. "That's what I want, and that's what most people do, but that doesn't mean it's for everyone."

"And kids… I want kids one day, but it's not like I dream of having little Cooks running around the place. When I imagine what my kids would be like, they're just mine. I don't think of them as _Cook's_ and mine. Just mine. Like I don't really know who the father would be."

"Do you not want Cook to be the father?"

"No, I do. I mean, if we wanted kids together I know that Cook would make a great dad. But it's like you said, when you were going out with Ben you knew that you wanted to marry him and have kids with him and grow old with him. It's not like that with me and Cook. I'm not saying it couldn't be, or that I wouldn't be happy if it did happen, but we just kind live in the moment. Whatever happens happens. We don't plan ahead, we just let things go along and deal with whatever comes our way."

"Well what about Naomi?" Katie asked. "Can you picture all that kind of stuff with her?"

"Well I don't know. I mean, it's automatically completely different with a girl, isn't it? I can't marry her, we can only have a civil partnership, which I realise is pretty much the same as marriage, but it's not really a _marriage_, is it?"

Katie shrugged. "Technically it's not, but it's still a promise between you to love each other forever."

"Yeah, I guess. And kids. We can't just have kids. I know there are other ways, but they wouldn't really be ours. They'd be either hers or mine or adopted. But they couldn't be both of ours. I'm not sure how I feel about that."

"I think when the time came you'd love any kid just as if they were your own. Just because they may not share your DNA doesn't mean they aren't your real children. Being a parent is about loving them and taking care of them, not having sex and getting pregnant and giving birth and creating a little human that's half you, half them."

"And that's the other thing," Emily said, "Sex."

"What about it?"

"It would be with a girl." Emily said, as though it were obvious.

"What's your point?" Katie asked.

"I like cock."

"Exclusively?"

"Well, yeah."

"How do you know? You've never tried the muff before. You might like it better than cock."

"No. I don't think so. It's just weird. It'd seem like something missing." Emily said.

Katie looked thoughtful for a minute. "It's different, but it's not like something is missing. You can't really compare it, because it's two completely different things."

"Yeah, bu-" Emily paused when she realised what Katie had said. "Wait… How do you know so much about this?"

Katie gave Emily a cheeky smile.

"You've had sex with a girl? When?" Emily cried, shocked, one, that her sister had had sex with a girl and two, that she didn't know about it.

"Back in college. Just before I met Ben."

"How did I not know about this? And who with?"

"I wasn't sure how you would react and I didn't want people to think that I was a dyke, because I wasn't, I was just experimenting. So I kept it quiet. And it was with that girl Jess… You know that lesbian that was in the year above us?"

"Oh yeah. I remember her. She was pretty hot. Apparently she used to turn all the straight girls."

"Yeah, well not _all_ the straight girls, but she was pretty good." Katie said, blushing slightly.

"Really? What was it like?" Emily said curiously.

"Well, like I said, it was different. But it was nice. It felt… personal… I mean it wasn't like when I'm with Ben, but it was a lot better than all the other one-night stands I had with guys. It was gentler. Like not just her actions, but how soft her skin was, and her lips and tongue and the way she kissed me and-"

"Woah, too much information!" Emily said, blocking her ears. "I don't want to hear _that_ much about what it was like."

"Oh shut up, I'm just trying to explain."

"Yeah, well try and explain without giving me mental images of my twin sister with another girl's head between her legs."

"Excuse me, I never said anything about her head being between my legs!"

"Oh. Right. Did she though?"

"Yeah." Katie said, as though the answer should be obvious.

"Ew, don't tell me that!" Emily exclaimed, clapping her hands over her ears again.

"You asked!"

"Yeah, but I didn't actually want to hear the answer!"

"Whatever. You're an idiot." Katie said. "Anyway, back to the point. Being with a girl is not as weird as you might think it is. It's different to being with a guy, but it's not worse."

"Is it better?"

"Well I guess it depends on who it's with and what you personally like. If you really do only like cock, then you'll most likely prefer sex with a guy, if you're in to tits and fanny, and you have sex with the right girl, then you might like that better. Really just depends on the person, I guess."

Emily and Katie sat quietly for a while, thinking over everything that had been said.

"You know, you really haven't helped me come to any better conclusion, you know?"

"Perhaps not. But I can't help you with that. You need to decide for yourself."

"Can't you just tell me what to do?"

"Nope."

"Please? I would love you forever."

"You have to love me forever, I'm your sister."

"I don't _have_ to love you forever. I just choose to."

"Well aren't you sweet. So what are you going to do?" Katie asked.

"I don't know." Emily whined. "How do you decide something like this? I really like Naomi. And she likes me. And when we kissed last night it was amazing. But can I really give up everything I have just to give it a go with her? I mean how the hell could I possibly leave Cook? I love him so much; I don't think I could hurt him like that. But at the same time, I don't want to hurt Naomi by telling her that me and her can never happen either. I don't _want_ to tell her that. I don't want to know that nothing can happen between us."

"I don't know what to tell you, Ems. I wish I could just say something to make all this better for you, but I can't. I can offer advice, but in the end, you're the one who has to make a decision. And chances are that whatever choice you make that someone will get hurt and it's going to fucking suck. But I know you, and I know that you normally make the right decisions. And whatever happens, I know that you will be able to work through and make good."

Emily said nothing but leant in to her sister, who wrapped her arms around her. "Just know that whatever you choose, I'm here for you and I love you."

"I love you too." Emily said quietly, wiping away a tear that dripped down her cheek. She cuddled further in to Katie, who placed a kiss on top of her head.

* * *

A few hours later, Emily was sitting at her desk at work. JJ was working on something with Freddie, leaving Emily alone in the office. She was supposed to be selecting the images for the cover of one of the next month's magazines, but was finding it too hard to concentrate. Instead, she was spinning slightly in her chair and twirling a pen between her fingers. She looked up when she heard a knock on the door.

"Em, do you have a minute?"

"Yeah, sure Eff, c'mon on in." Emily said.

Effy walked up to Emily's desk and placed a few sheets of paper down. "Here are the articles for the magazine for you to look over. I wasn't sure about the one that Kylie wrote, but without it we're a segment short and I don't think we have time to come up with a whole new one before we go to print, so it's up to you what we do with it."

"Thanks Eff. Was there anything else?" Emily asked, going back to spinning on her chair and twirling her pen.

"Nope that's it." Effy said, walking to the door.

"Oh actually, there is one more thing…" Effy said, pausing by the door.

"Hmm?"

About last night… Is that just something you do with Naomi? Or are all of your employees supposed to make out with you?" Effy said with a cheeky grin.

"Fuck off." Emily said, smiling slightly despite herself. She knew Effy well enough to know that she would never mention anything about what she saw to anyone. And it kind of made her feel better to have someone joke about the situation.

"Coz I'd definitely be up for it, but if you had to make out with Freddie, I've got to admit that I would probably get a bit jealous."

Emily threw her pen at Effy, who dodged it and left the office, closing the door behind her.

Emily picked up another pen and started twirling it; not even bothering to look at what Effy had brought her. Half an hour later she heard another knock on the door.

"Come in." She called.

Naomi poked her head in the door. "Got a minute?"

"Um, sure." Emily said, sitting up straight and straightening her shirt.

"I wasn't sure if you were going to make it in today." Naomi said, standing awkwardly in front of Emily's desk.

"Yeah, I spent the morning with Katie." Emily said.

"Yeah, Cook told me."

"Oh. Right."

"Yeah." Both women were quiet for a minute as they figured out what to say. Eventually Naomi spoke up.

"Listen, Em, about last night… I was out of line. I shouldn't have acted the way I did. I had no right to tell you that I like you. And I shouldn't have gotten angry and gone out and I shouldn't have kissed you. And I'm sorry."

"You didn't kiss me. I kissed you." Emily said.

"Well I didn't stop you, so it's pretty much the same thing."

"It was not your fault. And don't be sorry. I'm glad you told me."

"You are?"

"Yeah. And I meant what I said last night. I do like you. There's just a lot to think about. I'm not going to cheat on Cook."

"Good." Naomi said. "That's the last thing I want you to do."

"Yeah. But I can't just leave him either." Emily said quietly.

"Ems, it's okay. Really."

Emily looked up at Naomi. "Why are you being so good and understanding about this?" She asked.

Naomi shrugged. "Because I care about you. I like you. I'm not stupid enough to believe that that automatically means I get you. I get that this is complicated for you. So I'm going to give you time to think about what you want and need and at the end I'll be here waiting for you, either just as your friend, or as something more, if that's what you want."

"Really?" Emily asked, amazed by Naomi's words.

"Really." She said, "Ems, I like you. I like you a hell of a lot. But I want you to be happy. And I'd rather be just your friend than nothing at all."

"You'll never be nothing, Naoms." Emily said. "I have no idea yet what I'm going to do, but don't you dare think for one second that you could ever be nothing to me."

Naomi nodded, unable to bring herself to look in Emily's eyes, scared that she might see something she didn't want to.

"Is that why you came here? To apologise?" Emily asked.

Naomi shrugged. "Partly. Partly just wanted to see you…" She said quietly, causing a small smile to spread across Emily's face. "But there is something else I want to talk to you about as well…" Naomi said nervously.

"Is everything okay?" Emily asked, picking up on Naomi's discomfort.

"Um, well… yeah, it's okay. It's just…"

"Hold on, come over to the window." Emily said, grabbing her pack of smokes and crossing the office to sit on the sofa underneath the window. She opened it up and lit a cigarette. She patted the seat next to her, telling Naomi to join her. Naomi sat down next to her and Emily passed her the cigarette. "Okay, what's up?"

"You know you seem very much like a counsellor sometimes?" Naomi asked.

"One of my many talents." Emily said with a wink. "Now stop beating around the bush and tell what's going on."

Naomi sighed. "It's nothing really. I just wanted to let you know that I'll be going back to Manchester for the weekend."

"What? why?" Emily said, clearly not happy about Naomi's news.

"It's just something I need to do. I need to move on from the past and start a new life here. But I can't do that when I feel like my life is still there. All my stuff is still there. My Mum's stuff is there. I'm living everyday in fear that Victor is going to come here and force me to go home with him. I need to go back and clear the air. Let him know that I'm not going back. I need some closure. Without it I don't think I'll ever feel completely at home here."

Naomi passed the cigarette back to Emily who took a puff, very conscious of the fact that Naomi's lips had touched it only seconds ago.

Emily nodded slowly. "I understand." She said.

Naomi breathed a sigh of relief.

"But I'm not letting you go there alone." Emily continued, "I'm coming with you."

Naomi looked up at her. "Em, you don't need to do that. I'll be fine by myself."

"I don't care. I don't trust him. I'm not going to let you go there by yourself. It's too much for you to handle alone. Plus if I come, we can take my car and I can help you get all your things. It'll be much easier."

"Emily, I appreciate it. I really do. But do you really think me and you going to Manchester together for the weekend is really going to be the best idea?"

"Why, are you planning on making a move on me while we're there?" Emily joked.

Naomi slapped Emily's knee lightly. "No. But you know what I mean. I don't want to put you in a situation where you're going to end up more confused than you already are."

"You wont. It'll just be one friend, accompanying another friend on a trip that she shouldn't have to make alone. Besides, how are you planning on bringing back all of your stuff, plus any of your mums stuff with you on the train?"

Naomi smiled. "Are you sure you want to come?"

"Definitely." Emily said, taking a drag on the cigarette and passing it back to Naomi, who took the final puff and then stubbed it out in the ashtray.

"Thank you, Emily. I really appreciate it."

"You're welcome. That's what friends do for each other, right?"

"Right." Naomi agreed with a smile.

"And give me a hug, because friends do that as well." Emily said, reaching over to Naomi and pulling her in to a hug. Naomi wrapped her arms around Emily and hugged her back, both of them far too aware of the feel of their bodies together.

They pulled apart after a moment and stood to their feet. "Now get back to work before I have to fire you." Emily said, walking back to her desk.

"Yes ma'am." Naomi answered with a salute.

"And don't salute me." Emily said.

"Yes ma'am." Naomi said again but this time without the salute.

"And meet me up here at five and I'll drive us both home, save you having to walk."

"Yes m-"

And don't call me ma'am again!" Emily said, before Naomi could say it.

Naomi just laughed and left the room without another word.

* * *

"Hey, you're home early." Emily said as she walked in to the kitchen, surprised to see Cook standing at the stove.

"Yeah, I told your Mum that since the turnip and broccoli soup she made last night was so delicious I wanted to cook it for you for dinner tonight. So she didn't force me to stay." Cook said, stepping toward Emily and cupping her cheeks. He leant in and kissed her slowly on the lips.

Far too aware that Naomi was in the room, Emily pulled away before Cook could deepen the kiss. She turned to look behind her just in time to see Naomi walk briskly out of the kitchen and up the stairs.

"What's up with her?" Cook asked quietly.

"I don't know. Must just be having a bad day." Emily said quietly, ashamed with herself for the tangled web she was beginning to weave.

"Did you have a good morning with Katie?" Cook asked, going back to whatever he was cooking on the stove. Emily could only hope he wasn't actually cooking turnip and broccoli soup.

"Yeah, it was good. Nice to be able to just talk to her."

"What did you need to talk to her about? Everything okay?"

"Yeah, everything's fine." Emily said, unable to look Cook in the eye. "Just sister stuff."

Cook frowned, disappointed that Emily clearly didn't trust him enough to tell him what was going on.

"Something's going on…" Cook said. "Should I be worried?"

"No!" Emily said, frustrated at Cook for not letting it go. "It's nothing, I just had to talk to Katie about something."

"Fine. Sorry for being concerned about my girlfriend." Cook said grumpily, turning back to his cooking.

Emily sighed deeply. She knew she had been wrong to snap at him and that he was just trying to look out for her. But the last thing she needed right now was for Cook to try and get involved in what was going on. She felt guilty enough for kissing Naomi and lying to him, she didn't need him to pry even further in to the situation so that she would have to hide even more.

"Look, Cook, I'm sorry, okay? I shouldn't have snapped. I've just had a long day, that's all."

Cook nodded without looking at Emily and held an arm out to her, indicating that she should come and have a cuddle. Emily took a couple of steps forward and lent in to Cook's side. He wrapped an arm around her kissed her on top of her head. She buried her face in his chest and forced the tears not to fall.

"I shouldn't have tried to make you tell me." Cook said, "I just worry about you."

"Why?" Emily asked.

"Because you go around working and looking after Zack and Mia and being the perfect friend and sister and boss and girlfriend. And you fix everyone else's problems and just ignore your own. You never tell me your problems so I have no idea to help you. And that makes me worry. I have no idea what's wrong."

"Sorry." Emily said. "I am okay though. You don't need to worry."

"Good." Cook said knowing that the conversation was over. He lifted Emily's chin with his finger so that she was looking at him. His heart broke as he saw how sad she looked. Here eyes were watery, like she was trying not to cry. The creases on her forehead and her uncharacteristic frown proved to him that she was worried about something.

"You know that I love you, right?" Cook asked.

Emily nodded. "I love you too." She whispered.

Cook ducked his head and kissed Emily on the lips, running his tongue along her lower lip so that she opened her mouth. Emily kissed him back, allowing Cook's tongue to enter her mouth, unable to stop herself from thinking about how Cook's lips weren't as soft as Naomi's. She thought about how gentle Naomi's touch had been; how she had gently played with Emily's hair; how her thin but strong arms had held Emily close; how her lips and tongue tasted like tequila mixed with raspberry lip balm; how she smelled like cigarettes and shampoo and something that was just distinctly Naomi.

And she thought about how different Cook felt. It didn't feel bad with Cook. It felt comfortable. But less exciting. It wasn't boring, just familiar.

She gently pulled away from Cook and took a step back, avoiding his gaze, worried that by looking him in the eye, he would somehow know what she was thinking.

"Hey listen, I was thinking that if your Dad was okay with me taking the weekend off, maybe me and you could head to London for the weekend or something. Just get away for a couple of days. Reconnect a bit, you know?"

The twinge of guilt hit Emily as she heard Cook's words. Because he had noticed it. He felt it too. _Reconnect_, he had said. He wasn't the only one feeling disconnected. But the difference was that, while he was working to fix the gap, Emily was stretching the gap further and further, stepping further and further away, distancing herself more and more, because she was too afraid of Cook discovering the truth.

"Actually, I told Naomi that I would go to Manchester with her this weekend." Emily said quietly, unable to look at the face that she knew would have the heart-wrenching look of sadness spread all over it.

"Oh. What for?" Cook asked.

"She needs to go back to get some of her stuff. The stuff she left behind when she moved here. I said I'd go and help so that she doesn't have to do it all by herself."

"Oh." Cook said again. "Can't she just hire some removalists? They'd be able to do it quicker than you and her could. And that way we could still go away…"

"Sorry Cook. I need to go with her." Emily said, not wanting to share her reasons for not wanting Naomi to go back to Manchester by herself.

"Right okay." Cook said bluntly, taking the pot off the hot plate and moving it to a cooler part of the stove. "That needs to sit for half an hour." He said, before leaving the kitchen and disappearing upstairs.

Emily walked through to the lounge room and sat down on the sofa, disappointed in herself for the umpteenth time for the way she was treating people.

"Everything okay?" Naomi asked, walking in to the lounge room and sitting down next to Emily.

"Yeah. Cook's just pissed off at me, that's all." Emily said.

"How come? Because of me?" Naomi asked, panic clear in her voice.

Emily shook her head. "He asked me to go to London with him for the weekend but I said I couldn't."

"Because you're coming with me to Manchester?"

Emily nodded.

"You shouldn't come with me. You should go away with Cook. He's your boyfriend, after all."

"No. I'm not letting you go there by yourself. There's no point in arguing with me about it."

"But it's worth you arguing with Cook?"

"Cook needs to know that I can't just drop everything to go away with him. I have other things in my life."

"Yeah, but he's your boyfriend. Shouldn't he be pretty high up your list of priorities?"

"He is. But that doesn't mean that nothing else matters."

"Did you at least explain to him why you want to come with me?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because it's not my place to tell him. If you want him to know, that's fine, but I'm not going to go around blabbing your secrets."

"You're too perfect for your own good sometimes." Naomi said.

Emily shook her head. "I'm not even close to perfect."

"I think you are." Naomi said. "Now go upstairs, find your boyfriend and tell him you'll go to London with him."

"No, Naomi, I'm going with you. You can't change my mind."

"Fine." Naomi said, "Go upstairs, find your boyfriend and explain your reasons for needing to come with me to Manchester."

"Are you sure?" Emily asked.

Naomi nodded. "He deserves to know."

Emily stood up from the sofa and leant forward, placing a kiss on the top of Naomi's head. "You're pretty perfect yourself, you know." She said, before turning around and leaving the room.

Emily walked upstairs and in to hers and Cook's bedroom. Seeing the empty room, she walked through to the balcony. Cook was standing there, leaning against the railing, looking down to the road below, smoking a cigarette. Emily moved to stand next to him mimicking his position. She expected him to offer her his cigarette as he usually did, but he stayed still, not moving and not talking.

"Can I have some?" She asked, reaching over to take the cigarette from between his fingers.

Cook just moved his hand out of Emily's reach and instead, pushed his pack of cigarettes to Emily. Sighing, she took one out of the pack and lit it herself.

"Did you come out here for a reason or did you just want to steal my fags and ruin my alone time?" Cook asked grumpily.

"Actually, I wanted to talk to you." Emily said, forcing herself to not get angry and Cook's attitude.

"About what?"

"About why I have to go away with Naomi this weekend." Emily said.

"I don't give a rats why you have to go away with her." Cook said, throwing his cigarette down to the road below and walking back in to the bedroom. "The problem is that you chose her over me. Again."

"I didn't choose her over you, her thing came up first. You can't just expect me to drop everything to have a weekend away with you." Emily said, following Cook inside.

"But you'll drop everything to spend a weekend with Naomi?"

"It's not like that. She needs someone to help her in Manchester. I'm not going to let her go by herself."

"Why not? What's the big deal?"

"If you're going to be so fucking immature about it, I don't think you even deserve to know. And what did you mean by I chose her over you _again_?"

"This isn't exactly the first time you've ditched me for her." Cook said.

"When have I ditched you for her?"

"How about last night? When I got home from work and you ran off straight away to find Naomi? How about when Zack and Mia were staying here and we were going to spend some time together and you ended up spending all night cuddled up with Naomi in her bed?"

"Is that the only times you can think of?" Emily asked.

Cook shrugged.

"For your information, not that I should need to explain myself, but last night I had to go and save Naomi's butt because she was completely off her face and Effy was worried about her. What was I supposed to do? Leave her to get in trouble?" Emily didn't wait for Cook to answer before she started speaking again. "And that time I spent the night in Naomi's room was because I heard her crying, went in to see if she was okay and she told me all about how her uncle used to beat and rape her. Which is why I can't let her go back to her uncle's place by herself this weekend."

"What? She was beaten and raped?" Cook asked, taken aback by Emily's admission.

"Yes. Repeatedly." Emily said. "So maybe next time, instead of getting all pissy and immature, you could just talk to me like an adult."

"I'm sorry." Cook said. "I just… I really wanted to spend some time with you this weekend."

"I know. I would have liked to spend some time with you as well, but sometimes other things are more important."

"Yeah. But lately it seems like everything is more important." Cook said quietly.

"More important than you?"

Cook nodded. "I feel like you're pushing me away. We used to be so close. Now we hardly talk. And when we do, it's about boring stuff like work and TV shows and shit."

Emily didn't say anything.

"I feel like I'm losing you." Cook said, his voice breaking slightly.

Emily looked in to his eyes and saw that they were filled with tears. She took a step toward him and pulled him in to a hug. "You're not losing me, James. You'll never lose me. I love you." She said, "I love you so much."

The stood hugging for a moment before Emily looked up at him. Standing on her tiptoes, she kissed him on the lips, tangling her hands in his short hair. Cook kissed Emily back and walked her backwards until her knees hit the bed and she fell backwards. He climbed on top of her and they continued to kiss for a few minutes, until Emily felt Cook undoing the buttons on her shirt.

"Cook, stop." She said, pushing his hands away.

"What?" He asked, sitting up.

"I just... I'm not really in the mood." Emily said, unable to shake the feeling that, even though Cook was her boyfriend, having sex with him would mean she was somehow cheating on Naomi.

"Fine." Cook said, standing up and walking to the door. "But don't act like I'm being stupid when I tell you I feel like you're pushing me away."

Emily collapsed back down on the bed as Cook slammed the bedroom door closed behind him.

* * *

**Chapter 9 complete. Hopefully chapter 10 will be up in the next week as well. And it will cover Emily and Naomi's trip to Manchester. Oh, the possibilities ;)**

**Review? They make me happy. And give me motivation... :)**


	11. Chapter 10

**So it's been a while. I can only apologise. New jobs + uni being ridiculous + life just being crazy in general hasn't really made me feel much like writing, or given me much time to, even if I wanted. Anyway, here's chapter 10 for those who are still interested. Also, I'm tired and have proof-read this, so sorry for mistakes.**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

"You ready to go Naoms?" Emily asked, dumping an overnight bag next to Naomi's and walking in to the kitchen.

Naomi swallowed the last mouthful of her coffee and nodded, not saying a word.

"You alright?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Naomi answered. "See you Cook."

"Bye Naomikins." Cook said, looking up from his paper and glancing at Naomi as she left the kitchen. Cook looked over at Emily, who was watching him carefully.

Things hadn't been the same for them since their fight a few days earlier. They spoke, but not about anything important. They slept in the same bed, but they never cuddled. They said good morning and goodnight, but never kissed.

"Well I guess I'll see you in a couple of days then." Emily said, picking up her keys.

Cook nodded. "Yeah, see you."

"Have a good weekend." Emily said, turning around to leave the room.

"Ems, wait." Cook said, putting down the paper and standing to his feet. He crossed the kitchen and pulled Emily in to a hug before she even had time to register what was happening. She wrapped her arms around his neck and held him close for a moment.

"Sorry for being such a tool these last few days." Cook whispered.

"That's okay. I'm sorry too." Emily whispered back.

"Be safe okay? Drive safely and be careful when you're there, with… you know…"

Emily knew he was talking about being safe when they went to Naomi's old place to get her stuff.

"We will. You don't need to worry about us." Emily assured him.

"Can't help it." Cook said. "I love you. Call me when you get there?"

"I will. I love you too." Emily said, kissing him lightly on the lips. "Have a good weekend. I'll be back before you know it."

* * *

"You alright Naoms?" Emily asked.

They had been driving for an hour or so and Naomi had been extremely quiet the entire way.

"Yeah. I'm fine. Just a bit nervous, I guess." Naomi said, staring out the passenger side window.

"Understandably. Nothing's going to happen though. It'll be fine." Emily said reassuringly.

They were silent for another half hour or so, the quiet radio the only noise filling the car.

"I'm sorry I've fucked things up between you and Cook." Naomi said suddenly.

Emily glanced over at Naomi. "You haven't fucked things up. I fucked things up by myself." She said.

"If I hadn't told you that I like you none of this would have happened."

"Yes it would have. I already had feelings for you, I just hadn't realised yet. This all would have happened sooner or later anyway."

"Well I'm sorry it had to happen at all." Naomi said.

"Don't be. I just need to figure out what I want."

"About that…" Naomi said slowly, "I think you should stay with Cook."

Emily looked across at Naomi. "Why?"

"Because you just should. Before I came along you had it all sorted. You were happy with Cook. Didn't take a genius to know that you would marry him, have kids with him and live happily ever after with him. Now I'm here and everything's fucked. And you love him. And he fucking adores you. You should just pick him and be friends with me. It would be easier."

"It's not easier for me if that's not what I want."

"You'd be happy with Cook." Naomi said.

"I'd be happy with you too." Emily said.

"Would you though? I'm not exactly perfect girlfriend material. And you can't even imagine how judgemental and horrible some people can be if they find out you're gay."

"I'm sure I'd live." Emily said. "And stop putting yourself down. I'm sick of you always saying horrible things about yourself."

* * *

Emily pulled the car up outside the hotel and they both stepped out of the car. "I'll just give Cook a real quick call, let him know we got here fine." Emily said, pulling her phone out of her pocket and taking a few steps away.

Naomi opened the boot of the car and pulled out hers and Emily's overnight bags. She walked in to the foyer of the hotel and walked up to the desk. "Hi, I have a room booked under the name 'Fitch'." Naomi said to the woman at the desk.

"Yes, two nights, is that right?" The woman asked.

"Yep, that's it." Naomi said.

"Great. Here are your keys, you're on the third floor, room 36."

Naomi took the keys to the room and picked up the bags again. She walked over to the elevator and pressed the up arrow just as Emily walked back inside.

"Here's a key for you." Naomi said, passing a key to Emily. "We're on level 3."

"Great, thanks," Emily said, taking the key and her bag from Naomi.

"How's Cook?"

"He's good. He's working and Mum and Dad's and Zack and Mia were over so he's having a blast." Emily said happily.

"Good, I'm glad he has something to do." Naomi said.

"Yeah, me too."

They stepped in to the lift and Emily pressed the button for the third floor, trying to ignore Naomi's stare that she could feel burning in to the side of her face.

"Room 36, did you say? Emily asked, stopping in front of the door.

"Yep, that's the one."

Emily unlocked the door and stepped inside. "I'm afraid there wasn't too many rooms available at short notice. Apparently there's some festival on here this weekend, so everywhere was booked."

"This is fine, thanks for organising it." Naomi said, placing her bag down on one of the single beds.

"Sorry that we'll have to share a room." Emily apologised, putting her stuff down on the other bed.

"It's seriously no problem." Naomi said, "I think it's quite nice."

"I'm just going to go and freshen up." Emily said, walking to the bathroom.

"Is that your polite way of saying you need to wee?" Naomi asked with a cheeky smile.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, it is." Emily said throwing a smile Naomi's way before closing the door.

* * *

"So do you want to get this over and done with now or leave it till tomorrow?" Emily asked Naomi as they sat in a café eating sandwiches.

"Maybe get it over with now." Naomi said. "I don't really want to be thinking about it all night."

"Cool. Lets get going then." Emily said, taking the last sip of her coke and standing to her feet.

"What, like right this second?" Naomi asked nervously.

"Like right this second." Emily said. "You can do this Naomi. You don't need to be scared. I'll be right next to you the entire time. Nothing is going to happen" Emily told Naomi, taking her hand and leading her to the car.

"This is the one?" Emily asked, slowing the car to a stop and pulling up outside a dirty house, the garden overgrown and the windows dirty.

Naomi nodded.

"It looks… nice" Emily said.

"It used to look a lot nicer, when Mum was alive." Naomi said.

Emily nodded. "You ready then?"

Naomi swallowed and unbuckled her seatbelt. "As I'll ever be."

Naomi and Emily walked up the front steps and Naomi knocked bravely on the front door. A moment later the front door swung open, revealing a man whose appearance surprised Emily. Although Naomi had never told her what her uncle looked like, she had expected him to be the clichéd, horrible drunk: balding hair, beer belly, grubby wife beater, un-showered. But Victor looked surprisingly clean. He was wearing blue jeans and a pale blue button up shirt. His thick brown hair was combed and his goatee neatly trimmed. He removed his fashionable glasses from where they sat upon his nose as he looked at the two women that stood before him.

"Naomi." He said, clearly surprised to see her. "I wasn't expecting you to come back."

"I'm just here to get my stuff, then we'll be leaving."

"You can't just come in and take whatever stuff you want. I own it."

"Not all of it you don't. I have just as much right to my Mum's stuff as you do." Naomi said assertively, pushing past Victor and stepping inside. Emily followed close behind.

"And who are you?" Victor asked Emily.

"It's none of your fucking business who she is." Naomi said.

"It is if she's barging in to my house and stealing my stuff. She your girlfriend?" Victor asked, eyeing Emily up and down.

"No, she's not. And don't look at her like that." Naomi said, taking Emily's hand and pulling her close to her.

"Still haven't told me what your name is, kid." Victor said to Emily.

"It's Emily. Emily Fitch." Emily told him, her voice coming out braver than she felt. He was surprisingly intimidating for a man who looked so nice.

"Fitch?" Victor asked. "Not Robert and Jenna's daughter?"

"Y-yeah. How do you know them?" Emily asked.

Naomi squeezed Emily's hand a little tighter. "Since when do you know the Fitches?"

"Your Mum used to rave about them. When you moved here it was all _'Rob Fitch this'_ and _'Jenna Fitch that'_ and _'The Fitch's are the nicest people' _and_ 'The Fitch's throw the best dinner parties' _and_ 'Those Fitch children are just the nicest children around.' _Never fucking shut up about them." Victor said.

"Yeah, well they were friends. Now where's all my Mum's stuff."

"You're not taking your Mum's stuff. It's mine."

"She was my Mum. I think I'm deserving of at least some of it."

"Well I'm not telling you where it is." Victor said, lighting up a cigarette and offering one to Naomi and Emily. Naomi took one but Emily declined.

"Well I guess we'll just have to look for it then. C'mon Ems." Naomi said, taking a puff on her cigarette and leading Emily upstairs.

Emily followed Naomi up the stairs and across the landing. Naomi opened a door and held it open for Emily to go inside.

"Was this your bedroom?" Emily asked, looking around the room.

Naomi nodded.

"It's… small…" Emily said, unsure what she was supposed to say.

"Yeah. I just want to grab a couple of things from here. There's not a lot of stuff in here that's important."

Naomi knelt on the ground and pulled out a suitcase from under the bed. She opened the wardrobe and pulled out a few items of clothing and dumped them in the suitcase. She grabbed a few books and a couple of CD's, an old teddy bear, a photograph in a frame and a few other knick-knacks and threw them in the case, then zipped it up.

"C'mon." She said, taking Emily's hand and leading her from the room. "I've got a feeling Victor keeps Mum's stuff in the attic."

Naomi climbed the stairs to the attic and found the light switch. She looked around the dark and dusty attic just as Emily climbed up and joined her. Naomi grabbed a cardboard box that was close to her and opened it. "This is nothing." She said. Just some old papers and junk."

"So is this." Emily said, looking through another box.

The two friends worked their way through the boxes, occasionally mentioning if they found something interesting, but mostly they worked in silence.

"Hey Ems, I found all my old baby stuff." Naomi said.

Emily looked up. "You gonna take it home?"

"Nah. No point. It's nothing special."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. It's just my Mum's stuff that I want. Lets keep looking."

"Hey Naoms, I think I may have found something." Emily said a few minutes later.

"Really? What is it?" Naomi asked walking over.

"It's a box that says 'Gina'" Emily said.

Naomi opened up the box and looked at what was inside. "What's in it?" Emily asked.

"All sorts. Photos, books, CD's, videos, a few papers. Some stuff from her volunteer work she used to do." Naomi said. "I think I'll take it all with me."

"Ok. I'll put the stuff we want by the door." Emily said, picking up the box and carrying it across the attic.

"There's a whole bunch more boxes with Mum's name on it." Naomi said.

"What's in them?"

"This one just looks like crap. Just leave this one. And this one's clothes. You can leave this one too."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I have no need for it."

"What's in that one?" Emily asked, pointing to a smaller box.

Naomi opened. "A bunch of… Envelopes. Looks like letters." Naomi said. "Some of them have my name on them."

"Really?" Emily knelt down next to Naomi.

"That's my Mum's writing." Naomi said, showing Emily that envelope that had Naomi's name written on the front.

"There's a whole heap more for you here." Emily said, looking through the rest of the box. "Here, _'for Naomi on her 16__th__ birthday', 'for Naomi on her wedding day', 'for Naomi on her 18__th__ birthday', 'for Naomi when she finishes college'._ Looks like your Mum had it planned out. There are loads of them, for pretty much every occasion. And some that just have your name, not for any specific time. There are some for other people too." Emily said, passing Naomi a stack of letters. "Do you want to read them now?"

"No." Naomi said, putting the letters back in the box. "I'll do it when we get home. It's too much to do now. Lets just take them all."

Naomi stood up and picked up the box. "Are you okay?" Emily asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I just want to leave." Naomi said.

"Okay, lets go."

The two women walked back downstairs. "Find what you were looking for?" Victor asked as they walked back in to the lounge room.

"Yes. We'll be leaving now." Naomi said. "I found this for you though." Naomi passed Victor one of Gina's letters that had his name on it. "Thought you might want it."

"That's your Mum's writing." Victor said, looking at the letter.

"Yeah. She wrote a whole heap." Naomi said. "Ems, I just need to grab one or two more things, do you want to put that in the car?"

Emily nodded and picked up a couple of boxes and took them out to the car, as Naomi walked to the back of the house.

A few minutes later, Naomi walked back in to the lounge room, a plastic bag filled with things in one hand, a photo in a frame in the other hand. Emily walked back inside at the same time. "You ready to go?" Emily asked.

"Yep. Did you see where Victor went?" Naomi asked. Emily shook her head. "Lets just go then." Emily took the plastic bag from Naomi and walked to the front door, Naomi following behind.

They reached the car and Emily put the bag in the boot and opened Naomi's door for her. Naomi was just about to hop in when she heard the front door open and close. "Naomi, wait!"

Naomi turned around and saw Victor walking toward her, his eyes red with tears, the letter from Gina still in one hand.

"What?" Naomi asked.

Victor stood for a moment, not saying anything. Eventually he took a deep breath. "I'm sorry." He said.

"You're sorry?" Naomi asked, shocked at his words. "I don't think 'sorry' is going to cut it, Victor."

"I don't expect it to. I just needed you to know."

"Where is this coming from?" Naomi asked.

Victor held up the letter. "Your Mum had some stern words with me. Told me how she expected me to raise you. How important it was that I take care of you properly. And I failed her. Completely failed her last wishes. And I am so sorry for that."

Naomi stood silently, watching the man that had made her life hell break down in front of her. She reached for Emily's hand, found it and held on to it tightly.

"I don't expect you to ever forgive me." Victor said, tears running down his cheeks. "I just need you to know that I truly am sorry and if I could do things over I would do it completely differently."

"I just… I don't understand why you're telling me this now." Naomi said.

"Because you're leaving. For good. And if I were you, I would never want to see me again. So this may be my last chance. And I need you to know. The way I treated you is my biggest regret. And I'll hate myself forever because of it."

Naomi bit the inside of her cheek and looked at him. "You're not as drunk as you normally are." She observed.

Victor looked up at her, surprised. "No, I'm not." He said.

Naomi waited for an explanation.

"When you left, I realised how alone I was. Then I realised how fucked up my life was. So I've been cutting back, getting some help. Trying to sober up a bit."

"That's good." Naomi said.

Victor shrugged. "I suppose."

"It is." Naomi assured him. "I'm going to go now." She said, taking a step back to the car.

Victor nodded. "Will I ever see you again?"

Naomi shrugged. "I don't know. If I'm being honest, at the moment I never want to see you again."

Victor nodded. "I understand. Just… Just know that I love you. And that I'm so proud of you. And I hope that your life becomes everything you've ever hoped it to be." He said, swiping away the tears.

"Like I said," Naomi continued, "at the moment I never want to see you again. But who knows what might change in the future. Good luck with getting things back on track." Naomi said, stepping in to the car.

Victor nodded. "Naomi?" he said, as she was about to close the door.

"Yeah?"

"If you ever need anything, money or a place to stay or anything at all… Don't hesitate to ask."

Naomi nodded and closed the door. Emily got in to the drivers seat and started the car. She took Naomi's hand as they drove off down the street. "You okay?"

Naomi shrugged and took a deep shuddering breath, wishing she could stop the tears that were spilling from her eyes. "I will be." She said, intertwining her fingers with Emily's.

Emily let them back in to the hotel room and closed the door behind Naomi. Naomi crossed to her bed and sunk down on to it, an emotionless expression on her face.

"How are you feeling?" Emily asked, concerned.

Naomi shrugged and patted the space in the bed next to her. "Will you sit with me?" She asked.

Emily crossed the room and sat down on Naomi's bed, her back against the wall, he feet dangling off the side of the bed. Naomi twisted her body so that she was lying down, her head resting in Emily's lap. They sat in silence for a moment as Emily played with Naomi's blonde hair.

"I don't know what I was expecting from today, but it certainly wasn't that." Naomi said quietly.

"It was surprising. He was not what I expected at all." Emily said.

"He surprised me. I haven't seen him that sober since before Mum died. I hate myself for thinking it, but I'm kind of proud of him for that."

"That's understandable." Emily said. "The guy raised you. Yeah, he didn't do it as well as he should have, but you can't spend 15 years with someone and not have any feelings for them."

"Shouldn't I hate him though?"

"Probably. Anyone else probably would. But you're not just anyone. You're Naomi. And you're too nice for your own good. I don't think you have it in you to ever truly hate anyone."

"How come you always know just what to say?" Naomi said, finding one of Emily's hands and holding on to it.

"I just say the truth." Emily said, leaning forward and kissing Naomi on the head.

Silence fell between them once again and it wasn't long before Emily felt Naomi's breathing evening out as she drifted off to sleep.

* * *

"Fuck." Naomi said, twisting her stiff body around to look up at Emily. "How long was I asleep for?"

Emily glanced up at the clock. "About three and a half hours."

"And you just sat there the whole time? Why didn't you wake me up or just kick me off you or something?"

"Because you looked so peaceful and you obviously needed the sleep."

"Yeah, but fuck, three and half hours. What's the time?"

"Almost half nine."

"You missed a meal to let me sleep on your lap? You must really like me." Naomi said, sitting up.

Emily slapped Naomi lightly on the knee. "Shut up, I don't die if I miss one meal. I'm not really very hungry anyway. Are you?"

"Not really. I'm actually still kind of tired. I might just go to bed."

"Me too." Emily said, grabbing a couple of things from her bag. "I'll just go change in the bathroom."

"You don't have… I mean, you can stay out here, I'll change in the bathroom." Naomi said, also finding her pyjamas.

"No it's fine. You stay here, I'll go in the bathroom."

Emily disappeared in to the bathroom, changed her clothes, brushed her teeth, washed her face and walked back through to the main room. She looked over at Naomi, expecting to see her already in bed, but instead she saw her sitting on the bed, wearing a pair of pyjamas pants and her bra.

_Fuck_, Emily thought,_ she has a good body._ Emily went over and stood in front of Naomi, trying to keep her eyes of Naomi's exposed torso and failing miserably.

"You okay Naoms?" She asked.

"When we get back, I think I'm going to change my name back. I don't want to be Naomi Mason anymore. My name is Naomi Campbell."

When Emily didn't say anything in reply Naomi looked up at her. Emily was smiling down at her.

"I am so, _so_ proud of you." Emily told her.

Their eyes locked and they stared at each other for a moment. Without thinking, Emily took a step forward, bent over slightly and caught Naomi's lips with her own, kissing her deeply. Naomi took a moment to respond, but quickly tangled her hands in Emily's hair, holding her close. The kiss deepened as their tongues met, brushing against each other. Emily knelt up on to the bed, straddling Naomi's lap, wrapping her arms around Naomi's neck. Naomi's hands dropped from Emily's hair to her hips. She pushed Emily's tank top up at the back and ran her hands over Emily's warm skin, gasping in to the kiss as Emily grinded her hips down against Naomi's.

Emily pushed Naomi back so that Naomi was lying against the pillows, still just wearing her pyjama pants and bra. Emily held herself above Naomi with one arm, the other drifted down Naomi's side and across her stomach, causing Naomi's tummy to ripple with excitement. Emily kissed down Naomi's jaw and bit lightly on her ear lobe. Naomi slipped hands down Emily back and rested them on her bum. She slipped one knee up between Emily's legs and bumped it up in to her, causing Emily to gasp in to Naomi's ear.

"Fuck, Naoms." Emily whispered huskily.

Desperate to hear Emily make more noises like that, Naomi bumped her knee up again and used her hands to push Emily's bum further down. Emily grinded herself against Naomi's thigh and bit down on Naomi's neck, hard enough to make Naomi gasp, but not hard enough to leave a mark.

"Jesus Ems." Naomi said, her hands still squeezing Emily's perfect bum.

Emily moved her lips back to Naomi's and their tongues met in a perfectly sloppy kiss. She moved her hand that still rested on Naomi's stomach up slightly, so that it was cupping Naomi's breast. She squeezed it gently, before pulling the fabric of the bra down slightly. She palmed Naomi's bare breast, and ran her fingertips across the hard nipple, causing Naomi to breath in sharply. She squeezed the nipple hard, before palming the breast again.

"Oh, fuck, Emily." Naomi gasped.

Emily grinded her hips in to Naomi's thigh again and pinched her nipple once more.

"Fuck, Ems, stop." Naomi said, removing her lips from Emily and pushing Emily away. "We need to stop."

Emily immediately climbed off of Naomi and sat on the edge of the bed. "Fuck. Sorry. Got a bit carried away."

"We both did." Naomi said, sitting next to her.

"I'm sorry." Emily apologised.

"Don't be. It was just as much my fault as it was yours."

"You were just sitting there and I just jumped you."

"It's not like I tried to stop you. We both wanted it."

"I can't do this to Cook."

"Me either."

"You wont tell him, will you?"

"Of course not."

"I'm gonna go to bed." Emily said, standing to her feet and moving over to her own bed.

"Me too." Naomi said, pulling back the blankets of her own bed.

"I think you should put a shirt on first." Emily suggested, still unable to take her eyes off Naomi.

"Good idea." Naomi slipped a t-shirt over her head and then made a show of undoing her bra and pulling it out the sleeve over the shirt.

"You're a tease." Emily said, switching off the lamp.

"You're a pervert." Naomi retorted.

"You love it."

"Ems?"

"Yeah?"

"Shut up and go to sleep."

* * *

"Ready to go then?" Emily asked, closing the boot of the car.

"Yep. There's really no point in wasting your money staying another night. There's no need." Naomi said.

"Yeah, I guess not. As long as you're ready to get back to the real world."

"I am." Naomi said, walking over to Emily and taking the car keys from her hand. "And I'm driving."

"What? Why?" Emily asked.

"Because you got no sleep last night and you look like shit. This way you can fall asleep on the way home without having to worry about crashing your car."

"How do you know I got no sleep last night?" Emily asked, giving in and getting in to the passenger side.

"Those rings around your eyes say it all. And I could hear you tossing and turning for hours. There is no way anyone could be asleep while they were moving that much."

Emily didn't say anything.

"Were you okay?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, just had a lot on my mind." Emily said.

"Like?"

"Like me and you. Like me and Cook. Like what the fuck I'm going to do."

"I'm sorry if I made it harder on you."

"You didn't."

* * *

"Hey, you're back early." Cook said as they walked in. "How was Manchester?"

"Yeah, we decided there was no need for us to stay another day. And it was okay. Did what we had to do." Emily said, pecking him on the lips. "I'm just gonna go up and put my bag upstairs. Might take a shower. Feel a bit gross."

"Actually Ems, could we talk? There's something I have to say to you…"


	12. Chapter 11

**Thanks for all the reviews :) They made my day. Sorry I haven't been able to reply to them... Also, just a note for those who don't realise... If you don't log in when you leave a review, I can't reply to it... So if you are asking a question, make sure you log in :)**

**Here's the next chapter for you. A bit of a shorter one, but I have had a very long, drunken weekend and don't have a lot of brain left. Sorry for any mistakes, and hope you enjoy :)**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"Yeah, of course." Emily said, taking a seat on the couch with Cook, looking at him expectantly.

Cook glanced toward the kitchen when he heard Naomi rummaging through one of the drawers. "Actually, lets go upstairs." He said, standing to his feet, taking Emily's hand and leading her up the stairs.

"Is everything okay?" Emily asked. When he didn't reply she grew worried. "Cook, you're making me nervous. What's going on?"

Cook closed the bedroom door behind them and guided Emily to sit on the bed.

"James, what's going on?"

"There's something I need to talk to you about." Cook said, hands in his pockets, standing before Emily but unable to look her in the eye.

"What is it?" Emily asked.

Cook didn't say anything for a moment, just stood looking at his feet. He opened his mouth a couple of times to begin to say something, but never quite got the words out.

"James," Emily said, " you know you can talk to me about anything."

"You don't love me anymore, do you?"

"What? Of course I do." Emily said, standing up. "I love you so much."

"Yeah, but it's changed, hasn't it? Its not like it used to be." Cook said.

Emily was quiet for a moment. "What makes you say that?" She asked.

"I can just tell. You and me, we used to be perfect. But we've changed."

"I still love you, James." Emily said, stepping toward him and cupping his cheeks in her hands. "I will always love you. That's never going to change."

"It has changed though." Cook said, looking down at her sadly. "You don't look at me the way you used to."

"James, I fucking love you. I always will. Why don't you believe that?" Emily said, a tear dripping down her cheek.

"I do believe you. I just don't think you love me the same way you used to. I don't think you've even realised it yet. But it has changed."

"How? How has it changed?"

Cook took a moment to think about what to say. "I don't know how to describe it. I can't pinpoint exactly what has changed. It just feels different. We used to be perfect. We rarely fought; we spent every spare moment we had with each other. We worshipped the fucking ground the other walked on. But it's not like that anymore."

"That's just what happens in a relationship. You grow comfortable with each other." Emily said.

"This isn't like being comfortable. This is uncomfortable. I feel so on edge all the time. Like the simplest thing I say or do might make us fight again. And I hate fighting with you. We've hardly spoken or touched each other for a week and I hate it."

"So then lets fix it. Lets get away for a while, reconnect, spend some quality time together."

"It's not as simple as that though, is it?" Cook said.

"Why isn't it?"

"Because it's not just the two of us involved anymore." Cook said sadly.

Emily's worry doubled at his words, when she realised what he was getting at. "W-what do you mean?"

"I think you know, Ems." Cook said. "I've seen the way you look at her. It's the same way you used to look at me."

"But I'm not… We're not… We haven't…"

"I know you haven't. But you want to. And as much as I love you, I don't think I can be in a relationship with someone who doesn't really want to be in one with me."

"James, don't say that. I do want to be in a relationship with you. I love you more than anyone in the world." Emily said, the tears running down her face.

"I know you do. But like I said, it's changed. We're not the perfectly in love couple we used to be. I can't stay in a relationship with you and at the same time be watching you wish you were with her. It's not fair to anyone."

"Fuck what's fair. Nothing in this is fair, no matter what happens."

"I know it's not." Cook said, wrapping his arms around Emily and pulling her in to a hug. "But I really think this is the best option."

"So... you're leaving me?" Emily sobbed in to his chest.

"I guess so." Cook said.

"I don't want you to."

"I don't really want to either. But I think, deep down, we both know that this relationship is on the downhill. We can try and make it work for now, but eventually it's going to fail. Why postpone the inevitable, hey?"

"Because at the moment it's good. James, please don't leave me. I love you."

"I love you too. If you can look me in the eye, right now, and tell me that you have no feeling for Naomi, and that you want to spend the rest of your life with me, then I'll stay."

There was a second of silence before Cook continued speaking.

"But I know you can't tell me that, and mean it. So I'm not going to make you say that. Ems, I love the living shit out of you. I don't think I could ever love anyone the way I love you. But this is just not right. I need to let you go."

"I don't want to lose you." Emily whispered.

"You wont lose me." Cook cupped her cheeks in his hands and made her look him in the eye. "Emily Fitch, you will never, ever lose me. _Ever_. I promise. I need to let you go. And you need to do what you've got to do. But I will never really leave you. You don't need me to be your boyfriend anymore. But I will always, _always_ be here as your friend. Nothing will change that."

"Do you promise?"

"I promise." Cook said, pecking her lightly on the lips. "I promise."

Emily took a step back and sat on the edge of the bed. "I can't believe this is actually happening." She said. "I didn't expect this to ever happen."

"Me either." Cook said, sitting down next to her. "But it's for the best. You're too wonderful and too considerate to ever make a decision out of Naomi and me. You would have spent the rest of your life weighing up the pros and cons and never making any progress. So now you can be free to do whatever you want. Live your life with no regrets or secrets. Just be happy."

"I would be happy with you." Emily said, taking Cook's hand.

"Yeah, but not completely. You would always be wondering if it could have been better. Or regretting your choice to pick me, wondering what could have been."

"I still would have been happy."

"I know." Cook said, wrapping an arm around Emily shoulder. Emily tilted her head to rest it on Cook's shoulder.

"What do we do now?" Emily said, after they had been silent for a few minutes.

"I don't know. I think I'll go stay with JJ for a while, until I can find my own place."

"No, you should stay here. I can go live with my parents or Katie or someone. You shouldn't be the one to move out."

"No, I want to." Cook said. "You paid for most of this place. It wouldn't be fair for me to keep it."

"I'm going to miss you." Emily said. "It will be weird not having you here when I get home from work. Not waking up next to you. Or kissing you goodnight. Or not being able to call you my boyfriend."

"Mm." Cook agreed. "But I imagine you'll have a pretty hot blonde chick to kiss and wake up next to and call your girlfriend."

Emily couldn't help a tiny smile from escaping her lips at the thought.

"In all seriousness though Em, there's something I need to know."

"We haven't slept together." Emily told him, knowing what he was getting at.

"I know you haven't slept together. But how far have you gone?"

Emily took a deep breath. "We had one kiss when I found out she liked me. It was kind of when I realised I like her too. And last night we kinda… made out… a bit…" She admitted sheepishly. "I'm so sorry. I never meant for any of it to happen, it just…. Happened."

"I know, it's okay." Cook said.

"It's not okay. You didn't deserve to be treated like that."

"It really is okay. It's not like you slept with her or anything."

"I wish it hadn't happened like this."

"In a couple of years you'll probably look back and be glad it did."

"Doubt it."

The two sat together for a while longer, occasionally sharing random memories or thoughts. Eventually cook stood up and crossed to his bedside table. He opened the drawer, pulled out a small box and passed it to Emily. "I want you to have this." He said.

Emily took the box from him. "What is it?"

"Open it."

Emily opened the box to find a small ring box. She looked up at Cook, confused.

"Open that one too." He said.

Emily opened the ring box to find a white gold ring, a few small diamonds across the top of the band, a bigger square one in the middle. "What is this for?" She asked.

"I was hoping that one day it would be your engagement ring." Cook told her. "I've had it for a while, just waiting to find the right time. I guess it just never came along. But I'd like you to have it anyway."

"No, Cook, I can't keep this. It must have cost you a fortune. I can't keep it."

"I want you too." Cook said, moving his hand away when Emily tried to pass it back to him. "It's of no use to me. And I know for a fact that you would like it because I subtly brought it up with Katie once and she assured me, completely oblivious to my intentions, that this is the kind of ring you have always wanted for your engagement ring."

"She was right." Emily said. "It is beautiful."

"Then you should keep it." Cook said. "I bought it for you, and even if we're not getting married, I still want you to have it. Just maybe don't wear it on your ring finger." He added with a smile.

"You know, if you'd asked me, I probably would have said yes." Emily told him.

"I know. But it wouldn't have been right."

"Why are you so perfect?" Emily asked.

"One of my many talents, babe." Cook said with a wink. "I'm just gonna gather up a few things and head off. I'll come back later in the week to get all my other stuff."

"Okay." Emily said sadly. "You sure you don't want me to be the one to leave?"

"Positive." Cook said, grabbing a bag from the top shelf of the walk in robe and filling at with some clothes and toiletries. Emily watched, as he gathered his things, not even bothering to wipe the tears that were trailing down her face.

When Cook was packed, he moved to stand in front of Emily. "I guess this is it then." He said, placing his bag on the floor and holding his arms open for Emily.

Emily fell in to his arms, wrapped her arms around his waist and held him tightly.

"I'm really going to miss you." She told him.

"I'm really going to miss you too."

"And I really, really do love you."

"I really, really love you too." Cook said.

"And we'll stay friends?"

"We will most definitely stay friends." Cook assured her.

The looked in to each others eyes for a moment, until Cook leant in slowly and their lips met in a gentle kiss. Their lips moved together for a moment, tongues brushing briefly until Cook pulled away. He smiled down at her.

"You really are an amazing kisser." He said. "Naomi is going to be one lucky woman."

Emily hit him lightly in the stomach. "Shut up. You're not going to get all pervy and immature on me are you?"

"Can't make any promises, love. Two of the fittest birds I know are about to get together. Can't not have some pictures in my mind." He said, cheeky smile on his face.

Emily shook her head at him. "You're a tool." She laughed.

"I guess some people never change, hey?"

"Ha, I guess not."

Cook picked up his bag and moved to the door. "I guess this is it then."

"Yeah, I guess so."

"I'll see you soon, yeah?"

"Yeah, definitely." Emily said, giving him a sad smile.

Cook walked from the room and was about to close the door behind him when Emily spoke up again. "James?"

Cook stepped back inside. "Yeah?"

"Thank you…. For being so great. For the last few years. For everything."

Cook smiled at her. "It was my absolute pleasure, love. See you."

Cook left the room and closed the door behind him, leaving Emily in a silent room. The tears continued to run down her face as she walked out to the balcony. She leant on the railing to see the street below, watched as Cook walked out the front doors of the building a couple of minutes later. He walked to where his car was parked opened the driver's door and threw his bag over to the passengers seat. He glanced up to where Emily was standing and gave her a smile and a wave, which she returned, before he climbed in to the car and drove off down the street.

Emily returned to the bedroom and lay down on her bed. A few minutes later she heard a knock on the door and Naomi walked in.

"Hey," Naomi said, walking over to the bed. "I just saw Cook leave with a bag, is everything okay?"

"We just broke up." Emily said emotionlessly.

"Fuck. Are you okay?" Naomi asked, sitting down on the bed next to Emily and patting her gently on the stomach.

"I don't know. I guess so. I don't really know what to feel."

"Who broke up with whom?"

"He initiated it. But I guess it was mutual."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No. Actually I kind of just want to be alone, if you don't mind."

"Of course." Naomi said, rising to her feet. "Let me know of there's anything I can do."

Emily watched Naomi walk away and close the bedroom door behind her, and Emily rolled over, buried her face in the pillows, and cried until she had nothing left to cry.

* * *

"Emily, get your fucking arse out of that bed." Katie said, bursting in to the bedroom and pulling the blankets off Emily.

"Fuck off Katie." Emily mumbled against her pillows, attempting to pull the blankets back up.

"No, I will not fuck off. I know life sucks, and you broke up with your boyfriend, but I'm not going to sit back and watch you wallow in self-pity and fuck things up. Now go take a shower and get dressed, then come downstairs and I'll make you some food."

"I don't want to."

"Why not?"

"I just don't feel like it."

"Emily, it's been three days. You've got to be hungry."

"I'm not hungry. I just want to sleep. Can you close the door on your way out."

"Nope. I'm not leaving." Katie said firmly as she opened the curtains.

"Fucksake Katie." Emily said, shielding her eyes. "Why are you even here?"

"Because Naomi called me. She told me that Cook left and that you haven't left the room since. She also said you haven't touched any of the food she has made you and that you will hardly speak. None of those things sound anything like you, so I decided to come over."

Emily didn't say anything.

"I'm worried about you Em."

"Don't be."

"Can't help it."

"I'm just sad."

"I know. But staying in here and obsessing over it isn't going to help."

"I'm just trying to process everything."

"There's not that much to process."

"How would you know?"

"I just know that there isn't. You had to pick between Cook and Naomi and Cook helped you by calling it off. And now you're free to be with Naomi. Problem solved."

"It's not as simple as that."

"Why isn't it?"

"Emotions."

"You don't want to be with Naomi anymore?"

"I don't know. I mean, yes, I do, but I didn't realise breaking up with Cook would suck this much. Maybe this was the wrong choice."

"I don't think so. Break ups suck. They really are shit. But lying in bed is not helping. Now get out of bed and have a shower because you smell and Naomi's worried about you. And Cook and Ben are coming over later to pick up some of Cook's stuff and you don't want to look like shit when he gets here, do you?"

"Fuck. No." Emily said, sitting up and walking to her ensuite bathroom.

.

.

Twenty minutes later she arrived in the kitchen, freshly showered and dressed, her red hair still damp and wavy.

"Hey Ems." Naomi said brightly.

"Hey Naoms."

"How are you?"

"Alright. You?"

"Good." Naomi said, pouring a cup of coffee for Emily.

"What time is Cook coming over?" Emily asked, glancing at the clock.

"Is he coming over?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, Katie said he and Ben were coming to pick some stuff up." Emily explained. "Kate, what time are they coming?"

Katie gave a sheepish look from where she stood at the stove.

"Bitch." Emily said.

"What? I had to tell you something to get you out of bed."

"I could just go back to bed now, you know."

"No you can't. We're having a girls day." Katie told her.

"A girls day?"

"Yep. Naomi is taking the day off. And we told JJ you wouldn't be in today either. Mum is looking after Mia today so I'm free, and Mum also said she would look after Jonah, so Lara will be over in a bit. And Effy and Panda are leaving work at lunch time so they will be joining us then."

"And why, may I ask, are we having a girls day?"

"Because that's what people do when someone has a breakup. The girls get together and shop and watch movies and eat shit. So that's what we're doing."

"Isn't that a bit cliché and immature?" Emily asked.

"But moping around and staying in bed all day isn't?" Katie shot back.

Emily shrugged as Katie placed a plate of toast in front of her.

"Gotta run to the loo." Katie said, rushing from the kitchen. "This baby seems to enjoy squeezing my bladder."

"Are you okay, Emily?" Naomi asked after a moment.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I'm just… Yeah, I'm fine."

"I understand if you've changed your mind. It's probably not too late to go back to Cook, if that's what you want."

"No, that's not what I want." Emily said.

"Okay. But if you don't want to be with me either, I understand."

"I do want to be with you." Emily assured her. "I'm jus not quite ready to jump straight in to another relationship quite yet."

"That's fine." Naomi said happily. "When you are ready, if you ever are ready, I'll be here. We'll take things at your pace."

"Thanks" Emily said, standing up and putting her finished breakfast dishes in the sink. She walked over to Naomi and wrapped her arms around her from behind. "I want to be ready. I will be. Soon." Emily placed a kiss to the side of Naomi's head. Naomi turned her head and met Emily's lips with her own. They kissed gently, but it was full of emotion.

"It feels good to be able to kiss you without feeling guilty about it." Emily said, pecking Naomi on the lips again.

"It feels good kissing you, full stop." Naomi said, catching Emily's lips again.

"Oh shit, sorry." Katie said, walking back in to the kitchen and then quickly walking out again.

"No, Kate, it's fine." Emily said.

Katie walked back in slowly. "You sure? Happy to give you guys some time to talk if you need."

"Nah, we're good." Naomi said as Emily retook her place at the table.

* * *

"Today was fun." Emily said, lying down across the sofa and resting her head in Naomi's lap. "Thank you for everything."

"You're welcome for everything." Naomi said, running her fingers through Emily's hair.

"Sorry for being so crap these last few days."

"Don't be. It's completely understandable."

"Hmm. It wasn't fair on you though, after all you had to go through on the weekend."

"I was fine." Naomi said. "I was just worried about you. It's not often you miss a meal. And definitely not 8 meals in a row."

"Haha, very funny." Emily said, poking Naomi in the tummy. "Seriously though, how are you feeling after Manchester?"

"I'm fine. I just keep thinking of all these things I wish I had said to Victor though. Or things I had done."

"Like what?"

"Like having a go at him. Or kicking him in the balls."

"I think the way you acted was very mature."

"Perhaps. But I'm still very angry with him. Would have been good to get some of that out."

"Well maybe there still will be a chance."

"Maybe. I kind of hope there isn't."

"Hmm."

There was silence for a while as Naomi played with strands of Emily's hair. "I love your hair." Naomi told Emily.

"Really?" Naomi nodded. "Thanks. I was thinking about dying it back to brown…" Emily said.

"Don't you fucking dare!" Naomi said straight away.

"Jeez, okay. Why not?"

"Because… the red is great. It's so sexy."

"Sexy, hey?"

"Yep. Sexy. And beautiful. And it suits you."

"Okay. Red it is then."

"Thank you."

"No problem."

Emily twisted her body so that she was lying on her back and could see Naomi. She reached an arm up and brushed a strand of hair out of Naomi's eyes. "You're beautiful." She said.

"Right back at ya." Naomi said.

"Why do you always do that?" Emily asked.

"Why do I always do what?"

"When someone compliments you, you deflect it back on to them, rather than just taking it."

"I don't know. I guess I'm just not good at receiving compliments. I don't get them all that often. I'm sorry."

"You don't need to be sorry. I just wish you wouldn't view yourself in such a negative way all the time. It's not a crime to just say thank you when someone tells you you're beautiful."

"I know it's not, it just doesn't feel right."

"Why not?"

Naomi shrugged. "Because it's not true."

"Excuse me?" Emily said, sitting up and kneeling in front of Naomi. "What did you just say?"

"I don't know what to do when people tell me that because I know it's not true."

"You don't think you're beautiful?"

"No." Naomi said, as though it were obvious.

Emily moved so that she was straddling Naomi's lap. She cupped Naomi's cheeks in her hands and looked her in the eye. "Naomi, I am telling you now – and you'd better fucking believe me – you are beautiful. You are the most beautiful fucking person I have ever seen in my life." Emily said firmly, resting her head against Naomi's.

Naomi glanced down, averting her eyes. "Naomi, you are beautiful." Emily told her again.

Naomi shook her head slightly. Emily moved Naomi's face, forcing her to look her in the eye.

"Naomi," Emily said, leaning in and pecking her on the lips. "You," she kissed her again, "are," another kiss, "beautiful." Emily kissed her more firmly this time, pressing their lips together for a few long seconds before pulling away. "Now what do you say?"

A small smile spread across Naomi's face. "Thank you." She said quietly.

"Now that's more like it." Emily said, kissing her once more.

"I think I'm gonna go to bed." Emily said, kissing Naomi again.

"Okay. I'll see you in the morning then."

"Yeah." They kissed again, this time deeper, tongues brushing together. Emily tangled her hands in Naomi's hair. Naomi slipped her hands up Emily's thighs and rested them on her bum. They kissed for a few minutes, and it wasn't until Naomi slipped one of her hands up the back of Emily's top that Emily pulled away.

"Sorry." Emily said as she pulled away. "I'm just not ready to go too far yet."

"Right. Fuck. Sorry." Naomi apologised. "I didn't mean to push you. Just got carried away."

"Don't be sorry" Emily told her as she climbed off her lap. "It was nice."

"Yeah, it was." Naomi said, also standing up and switching the lights off. They climbed the steps to upstairs, Naomi unable to take her eyes of Emily's bum in front of her.

"Sweet dreams, Naoms." Emily said, placing one last kiss on Naomi's lips before heading off to her bedroom.

"Sweet dreams, Ems."


End file.
